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PRINCETON,     N.     J. 

Section  ...^(rT.i>.^.Q>.... 
Shelf. Number .^  .Q.^^j.   1  ... 


HISTORICAL  HAND-BOOK 


OF   THE 


REFORMED  CHURCH 


IN   TH« 


UNITED   STATES. 


By  rev.  JAMES  I.  GOOD,  D.D. 


(COETUS    EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

REFORMED  CHURCH  PUBLICATION  BOARD. 
189  7. 


REPORT   PRESS,  LEBANON,   PA. 


PREFACE. 


This  hand  book  has  been  written  at  the  suefsfestion 


fcifci' 


of  one  of  the  most  successful  ministers  of  our  Church, 
who  wanted  something  of  the  kind  for  his  Young 
People's  Societies.  It  is  dedicated  to  Christian  En- 
deavor Societies,  Brotherhoods  of  Andrew  and  Philip, 
Heidelberg  Leagues,  Sunday  Schools,  and  Consisto- 
ries, hoping  that  by  it  they  may  gain  a  more  intelli- 
gent idea  of  the  grand  history  of  our  Church.  We  need 
a  revival  of  our  historic  consciousness.  If  we  would 
make  our  people  faithful  to  our  Church,  they  must 
know  her  history.  It  is  hoped  that  the  sesqui-centen- 
nial  year  will  aid  in  this.  This  booklet,  therefore,  has 
been  published  as  a  Coetus  edition.  Of  course,  every- 
thing is  brief:  but  it  is  packed  with  facts,  put  in  popu- 
lar form  so  as  to  be  easily  read  and  used.  Its  price 
will,  it  is  hoped,  place  it  within  reach  of  all  our  mem- 
bers. At  the  end  are  questions,  so  that  it  can  be  used 
as  a  text  book  by  any  of  our  organizations  in  their 
meetings.  The  Author. 


a 


CHAPTER  I. 


SUNRISE  on  the  Alps  is  a  never-to-be- 
forgotten  sight.  The  traveler  who  sees  it 
from  the  top  of  the  Rigi  mountain,  will 
never  forget  the  scene.  After  he  has 
waited  breathlessly  for  the  first  sign  of  the 
coming  day,  suddenly  one  of  the  snow-capped 
peaks  will  be  tipped  with  golden  light.  Then  far 
distant  from  it  another  will  be  touched;  then  another 
near  the  first;  then  another  and  another  until 
the  sun  seems  to  play  a  game  of  hop,  skip  and  jump 
among  the  snow-capped  mountain  tops.  And  when 
at  last  the  sun  appears,  lo!  those  snow-capped  peaks 
stand  around  like  lighted  torches  to  welcome  the 
bridegroom  of  the  new  day,  as  he  again  begins  to  cir- 
cle the  earth.  Then  slowly  the  sunlight  creeps  down 
the  mountain  side  of  the  Rigi  until  at  last  the  dark 
lakes  and  cities,  5,000  feet  below,  are  bright  with  the 
light  of  another  day. 

But  grand  as  is  the  sunrise  on  the  Alps,  still 
grander  was  the  sunrise  of  the  Gospel  in  Switzerland 
in  the  days  of  the  Reformation.  It  rose  first  on  the 
top  of  one  of  the  lower  Alps  in  the  upper  valley  of 
Einsiedeln,  where  Zwingli  began  preaching.  Then  it 
descended  to  light  the  city  of  Zurich  with  the  bright- 
ness of  the  Gospel.  Then  from  city  to  city  and  canton 
to  canton  it  spread  its  light; — Basle,   SchafThausen, 


6  SWITZERLAND 

Berne,  Neuchatel  and  Geneva  were,  one  after  the 
other,  Ht  with  its  glorious  hght,  until  almost  all  Swit- 
zerland had  received  it.  Let  us  study  this  sunrise  in 
Switzerland,  the  birthplace  of  our  Reformed  Church. 

SECTION  I. 

ISwingli,  Cbe  dfounOer  of  ®ur  Cburcb. 

Ulric  Zwingli,  the  founder  of  our  Church,  was  born 
January  i,  1484,  at  Wildhaus,  a  little  village  in  one 
of  the  upper  valleys  of  the  Alps  in  northeastern  Swit- 
zerland, about  40  miles  cast  of  Zurich.  A  New  Year's 
boy,  he  was  destined  to  usher  in  a  new  year  to  the 
world — the  Reformation.  He  was  reared  as  a  shep- 
herd boy;  but  his  father  soon  saw  that  he  was  too 
bright  a  boy  for  the  mountains,  so  he  took  him,  when 
nine  years  of  age,  to  Ulric's  uncle,  the  priest  of  Wesen, 
about  12  miles  further  south,  where  the  boy  could 
attend  school.  But  his  uncle  soon  said,  "Wesen  can 
do  no  more  for  him."  So  the  next  year  he  was  sent 
to  a  high  school  at  Basle  (situated  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  Switzerland).  There  he  gave  promise  of 
future  greatness,  for  he  excelled  all  his  classmates  in 
debate.  And  when  not  yet  13  years  of  age,  he  was 
sent  to  the  school  at  Bern  (located  at  the  centre  of 
Switzerland).  Fortunately  Bern  had  one  of  the  new 
teachers  called  Humanists  (who  were  progressive  in 
their  ideas),  named  Lupulus.  He  introduced  Zwingli 
to  the  classics,  especially  the  Latin  language.  This  was 
his  first  step  toward  becoming  the  future  reformer — 
his  contact  with  the  classics  or  Humanistic  studies.  In 
a  year  or  two  he  attracted  so  much  attention  there, 
that  the  Dominican  monks,  admiring  his  musical  tal- 
ents, tried  to  get  him  to  join  their  order.     But  Ulric's 


SWITZERLAND  7 

father  had  no  hking"  for  monks,  so  he  was  taken 
away  from  Bern  and  sent  to  Vienna  to  study  phil- 
osophy. But  his  studies  here  seem  to  have  been  a 
continuation  of  the  classic  studies  begun  at  Bern,  and 
he  was  still  further  imbued  with  the  progressive 
spirit  of  Humanism,  which  urged  the  study  of  Latin 
and  Greek.  Had  Zwingli's  education  stopped  here, 
he  would  have  remained  a  scholar,  but  never  could 
have  become  the  reformer.  But  in  the  providence  of 
God  (because  he  was  yet  too  young  to  enter  the 
priesthood),  he  went  to  Basle,  where  while  teaching 
and  attending  the  university,  he  met  a  decidedly  re- 
ligious and  spiritual  influence,  which  led  him,  ten 
years  later,  to  become  the  reformer.  For  Thomas 
Wyttenbach  here  became  his  teacher.  He  it 
was  who  gave  Zwingli  the  impulse  toward  the  study 
of  Greek,  which  Zwingli  began  six  years  later.  Wyt- 
tenbach especially  impressed  him  with  the  keynote  of 
his  future  preaching.  "The  time  is  not  far  distant," 
he  said,  "when  the  scholastic  theology  will  be  swept 
away,  and  the  old  doctrine  of  the  Church  established 
in  its  room  on  the  foundation  of  God's  word.  Abso- 
lution is  a  Romish  cheat,  the  death  of  Christ  is  the  only 
payment  for  our  sins." 

The  year  1506  finds  Zwingli  entering  his  first  pas- 
torate at  Glarus,  about  35  miles  southeast  of  Zurich. 
Here,  for  about  10  years,  he  continued  the  faithful 
priest  of  the  people.  No  sign  of  his  becoming  the 
future  reformer  appears  at  Glarus.  Nevertheless, 
there  were  certain  influences  being  brought  to  bear 
on  him  that  loosened  the  hold  of  Rome  on  him.  Thus 
he  saw  some  of  his  members  go  as  soldiers  hired  to 
fight  in  the  French  and  Roman  armies  and  either  shed 
their  blood  for  foreign  princes  on  the  battle-field,  or 


8  SWITZERLAND 

come  home  morally  corrupt  to  demoralize  the  parish. 
Against  this  Zwingli  wrote  his  work,  "The  Laby- 
rinth" (1510).  He  himself  went  as  a  chaplain  with 
the  army  to  Italy  and  his  eyes  were  there  opened  to 
the  corruption  of  the  papacy.  He  also  happened 
to  discover  an  old  liturgy  at  Mollis,  the  next  village 
north  of  Glarus,  which  said  the  priests  used  to  give 
the  cup  as  well  as  the  bread  to  the  laity  at  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  it  suggested  a  question  to  his  mind  why 
that  could  not  still  be  done. 

While  certain  influences  were  thus  loosening  the 
hold  of  Rome  on  him,  others  were  tightening  the  hold 
of  truth  upon  him.  It  was  especially  the  influence 
of  Humanism  which  led  him  to  take  up  the  study  of 
the  Greek  language,  for  it  was  Greek  that  prepared 
him  to  read  the  New  Testament  a  few  years  later. 
Picus  Mirandula,  an  Italian  free  thinker,  and  Erasmus 
of  Basle,  the  leader  of  the  Humanists,  both  greatly  in- 
fluenced him. 

In  1 5 16  two  events  tended  to  prepare  him  to  make 
his  break  with  the  papacy.  One  was  the  publication 
of  the  Greek  New  Testament  by  Erasmus.  Before  that, 
he  had  been  able  to  get  at  the  Greek  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament only  by  the  round  about  way  of  reading  it  as 
found  in  scattered  verses  in  the  homilies  of  the  early 
church  fathers.  Now  he  could  get  it  directly  from  the 
Testament.  And  so  enthusiastically  and  earnestly  did 
he  read  it,  that  he  learned  whole  epistles  of  Paul  by 
heart. 

The  other  was  his  call  to  Einsiedeln,  his  second 
charge,  a  little  mountain  abbey  in  an  upper  Alpine 
valley,  about  20  miles  southeast  of  Zurich,  and  16 
miles  west  of  Glarus.  As  this  abbey  had  no  congre- 
gation connected  with  it,  he  could  spend  his  whole 


SWITZERLAND  g 

time  in  study.  Here,  set  aside  from  the  world  before 
entering  on  his  great  mission,  like  Moses  and  Paul, 
he  studied  and  prayed.  And  here  he  started  the  Ref- 
ormation, as  he  says,  in  1516.  This  was  one  year  be- 
fore Luther  nailed  his  famous  theses  on  the  church 
door  at  Wittenberg  in  Germany,  Oct.  31,  1517,  which 
began  the  Lutheran  Reformation.  Here  the  old  in- 
struction of  Wyttenbach,  given  ten  years  before,  came 
to  fruitage,  and  he  preached  that  "Christ  is  the  ransom 
for  sin."  "Not  the  Virgin  Mary  (whose  sign  was 
over  the  doorway  of  the  monastery)  could  forgive  sin, 
but  Jesus  Christ."  The  thousands  of  pilgrims,  who 
came  to  do  honor  to  the  black  virgin  of  Einsiedeln,  as 
the  patron  saint  of  that  abbey  was  called,  were  aston- 
ished at  this  new  doctrine,  and  some  took  it  to  their 
homes  as  they  scattered  over  Switzerland,  saying  with 
him,  "Christ  alone  saves  and  he  saved  everywhere." 

A  third  event,  which  occurred  a  little  later,  also 
came  to  lead  Zwingli  away  from  Rome,  namely,  the 
sale  of  indulgences.  In  15 18  Samson  appeared  in 
Switzerland  to  sell  them.  Zwingli  boldly  lifted  up 
his  voice  against  them.  "Can  your  gifts  save  you?" 
he  said.  "No,  Jesus  is  the  only  sacrifice,  the  only 
gift,  the  only  way." 

It  however  soon  became  evident  that  his  little 
mountain  eyrie  was  too  small  a  place  for  so  great  a 
man.  The  centre  of  northeastern  Switzerland  has 
always  been  Zurich.  To  this  larger  field  Providence 
called  him  in  at  the  close  of  15 18.  On  New  Year's 
day,  1 519,  when  he  began  preaching  in  the  great 
cathedral  in  Zurich,  it  was  indeed  a  new  year,  such  as 
they  had  never  seen  there.  For  he  began  preaching 
the  Gospel  to  which  they  had  been  strangers,  and  an- 
nounced  that   he   would   preach    on   the    Gospel    of 


10  SWITZERLAND 

Matthew,  chapter  after  chapter.  The  people  crowded 
the  church  to  hear  this  novelty.  "We  never  heard 
it  after  this  fashion,"  they  said.  Some  mocked,  but 
most  were  impressed  and  blessed  by  it.  Soon,  how- 
ever, overwork  so  broke  him  down  so  that  he  was 
compelled  to  go  away  for  his  health  to  the  baths  of 
Ragatz  I'faffcrs,  about  40  miles  southeast  of  Zurich. 
r>ut,  like  a  faithful  shepherd,  when  he  there  heard  that 
the  plague  had  broken  out  in  Zurich,  he  hastened 
home  to  comfort  the  sick  and  bury  the  dead.  Laid 
low  himself  by  it,  he  sank  to  death's  door.  But  God 
in  Ilis  providence  brought  him  health  again.  How- 
ever, his  sickness  deepened  his  religious  experience, 
so  that  afterward  his  Humanistic  learning  and  his  elo- 
quence were  consecrated  more  fully  to  God.  This 
baptism  of  fire  gave  him  Pentecostal  power. 

The  first  idea  of  the  reformers  in  the  Reformation 
was  to  reform  the  Catholic  Church  of  its  errors  and 
abuses.  Hence  they  were  then  called  Reformed.  But 
it  soon  became  evident  that  they  could  not  do  this, 
and  they  were  compelled  to  leave  that  Church.  Their 
name  "Reformers"  or  "Reformed,"  however,  clung 
to  them.  At  first  both  Lutherans  and  Zwinglians 
were  called  Reformed,  but  later  the  name  clung  to 
those  who  were  followers  of  Zwingli  and  Calvin.  So 
Zwingli  and  Zurich  were  compelled  to  break  from 
the  Romish  Church.  They  could  not  reform  the  old 
Church,  which  now  turned  against  them,  so  they  left 
it.  One  event  after  another  occurred  to  cause  the  final 
breach.  On  January  29,  1523,  a  great  disputation 
took  place  in  the  council  hall  of  Zurich.  Just  as 
Luther  had  nailed  95  theses  on  the  church  door  at 
Wittenberg,  so  Zwingli  brought  67  theses  before  this 
council  meeting.    At  a  table  in  tiie  middle  of  the  room 


SWITZERLAND  ii 

he  sat,  with  the  Bible  in  Latin  and  Hebrew  before 
him.  For  it,  he  claimed  supreme  authority.  The  dis- 
putation resulted  in  a  complete  victory  for  the  Re- 
formed, so  that  the  council  ordered  that  nothing 
should  be  taught  in  the  churches  except  what  was 
founded  on  the  Bible.  Soon  after  it  took  another 
step.  In  October,  1523,  some  of  the  Catholic  cus- 
toms were  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  council, 
which  ordered  that  images  should  be  cast  out  of  the 
churches.  The  publication  of  Zwingli's  marriage  to 
Anna  Reinhard,  in  1824,  still  further  widened  the 
breach  with  Rome.  Finally,  on  April  13,  1525,  the 
Reformation  was  completed  at  Zurich,  as  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  celebrated,  not  after  the  Catholic  fashion, 
but  by  giving  the  cup  as  well  as  the  bread  to  the  com- 
municants. Thus  Zurich  and  its  canton  became  Re- 
formed. 

But  the  Reformation  did  not  stop  there.  It 
spread  from  city  to  city.  Ecolampadius,  the  twin- 
worker  with  Zwingli,  introduced  it  into  Basle  (1528). 
A  great  conference  was  held  at  Berne  (1528),  the  capi- 
tal of  the  central  and  the  largest  canton  of  Switzer- 
land. Here  Berthold  Haller  had  been  trying  to  in- 
troduce the  Reformed  doctrines  amid  great  difficul- 
ties. At  this  conference  the  Reformed  gained  a  great 
and  signal  victory.  For  while  Zwingli  was  preaching 
in  the  cathedral  on  the  clause  in  the  Creed  which 
speaks  of  Christ's  ascension  into  heaven,  a  priest  came 
into  the  church  to  celebrate  mass  at  one  of  the  side 
altars.  But  Zwingli's  words  so  impressed  him  that 
he  cried  out,  "This  is  in  contradiction  to  the  mass."  He 
threw  ofif  his  priestly  robe,  saying,  "Unless  the  mass 
rests  on  a  more  solid  foundation,  I  can  celebrate  it 
no  longer."     His  conversion  caused  a  profound  im- 


12  SWITZERLAND 

pression  and  proved  the  forerunner  of  the  conversion 
of  that  great  canton  of  Bern  to  the  Reformed  faith. 
Thus  almost  all  of  northern  Switzerland  became  Re- 
formed. 

And  now  an  attempt  was  made  to  extend  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Reformed  still  farther,  even  into  Ger- 
many. Landgrave  Phillip,  the  ruler  of  Hesse,  was 
anxious  to  unite  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed,  so 
that  when  united,  they  might  be  stronger  against  the 
Pope.  He  arranged  a  conference  at  Marburg,  Oct. 
2,  1529.  There  Luther  and  Melancthon  appeared 
for  the  Lutherans  and  Zwingli  and  Ecolampadius  for 
the  Reformed.  Their  discussion  was  mainly  about 
the  Lord's  Supper.  It  continued  for  three  days,  when 
the  appearance  of  the  plague  broke  up  the  conference. 
Landgrave  Phillip,  finding  that  the  Lutherans  and 
Reformed  would  not  agree  to  unite  to  form  one 
Church,  urged  Luther  and  Zwingli  to  acknowledge 
each  other  as  brethren.  Zwingli,  bursting  into  tears, 
held  out  his  hand.  The  two  Churches  of  the  Reforma- 
tion were  about  to  become  one.  But  no,  Luther  re- 
fused the  profifered  hand,  and  ever  since  the  two  de- 
nominations have  remained  separate.  Two  more 
years  of  life  remained  to  the  founder  of  our  Church. 
They  were  years  of  anxiety  and  prayer.  The  five 
Catholic  cantons  of  the  upper  Alps,  southeast  of 
Zurich,  plotted  against  Zurich.  The  first  Cappel 
war  broke  out,  but  fortunately  closed  without  blood- 
shed. Zwingli,  while  on  this  campaign,  wrote  his 
hymn: 

Do  thou  direct  thy  chariot  Lord, 

And  guide  us  at  thy  will; 

Without  thy  aid  our  strength  is  vain 

And  useless  all  our  skill. 


SWITZERLAND  13 

Look  down  upon  thy  saints  brought  low, 
And  prostrate  brought  beneath  the  foe. 

Send  down  thy  peace  and  banish  strife, 

Let  bitterness  depart; 

Revive  the  spirit  of  the  past 

In  every  true  Swiss  heart, 

Then  shall  thy  church  forever  sing 

The  praises  of  her  heavenly  King. 

But  the  peace  was  only  temporary.  In  1531  hos- 
tilities broke  out  again.  Suddenly  news  came  to 
Zurich  that  the  army  of  the  Five  Cantons  was  ap- 
proaching. A  small  army  was  hurriedly  gathered  to- 
gether, among  it,  however,  the  bravest  soldiers  of 
Zurich.  Zwingli  went  along  as  its  chaplain.  The 
two  armies  met  at  Cappel,  about  ten  miles  south  of 
Zurich,  The  Zurich  army  was  completely  defeated. 
Zwingli,  while  stooping  to  minister  to  a  fallen  soldier, 
was  struck  with  a  stone.  As  a  lance  sent  him  reeling 
to  the  ground,  he  exclaimed,  "What  evil  is  it?  They 
may  kill  the  body,  but  they  cannot  kill  the  soul."  He 
died  under  a  pear  tree  (Oct.  11,  1531).  His  body  was 
burned  and  its  ashes  mixed  with  those  of  swine  be- 
cause his  conquerors  considered  him  a  heretic.  So 
died  the  martyr  of  the  first  great  quartette  of  the  re- 
formers, Luther,  Melancthon,  Zwingli  and  Ecolampa- 
dius.  He  was  a  brave  patriot,  an  eloquent  preacher, 
a  brilliant  scholar,  a  faithful  pastor.  And  now  more 
than  twenty  millions  of  Reformed  and  Presbyterians 
in  all  parts  of  the  globe  look  to  him  as  their  founder. 


14  SWITZERLAND 

SECTION  II. 

:t6ullingcr  anD  Calvin. 

The  workers  die,  God's  work  does  not.  God's 
work  depends  on  no  single  individual.  For  though 
the  workers  die,  God's  work  goes  on.  They  are  mor- 
tal, but  it  is  immortal.  Other  workers  come  to  take 
the  places  of  those  who  drop  out  of  the  ranks  by  death. 
And  so  when  Zwingli  died,  two  men  arose  to  take  his 
place  in  Switzerland,  so  that  the  Reformation  went  on 
with  greater  power  than  ever  before. 

Henry  Bullinger. 

He  was  born  at  Bremgarten,  July  i8,  1504.  When 
a  boy,  his  life  was  twice  remarkably  preserved.  The 
first  was  when  he  had  been  so  ill  with  the  plague  that 
they  supposed  he  was  dead,  and  were  assembled  for 
the  funeral,  when  suddenly,  to  the  astonishment  of  all, 
he  came  back  to  life  and  recovered.  God's  providence 
preserved  him  for  great  purposes.  He  early  showed 
great  precocity  of  mind  and  an  inclination  to  spiritual 
things.  When  12  years  old, he  was  sent  to  Emmerich  in 
northern  Germany,  to  one  of  those  schools  which  were 
the  forerunners  of  the  Reformation — founded  by  the 
Brethren  of  the  Common  Life.  These  had  been 
founded  by  Gerhart  Groot  a  century  and  a  half  before, 
and  their  brightest  ornament  had  been  Thomas  a 
Kempis,  who  wrote  "The  Imitation  of  Christ."  Their 
aim  was  to  disseminate  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  by 
education,  and  they  thus  prepared  some  of  the  leading 
reformers  for  their  work  in  the  Reformation.  At  Em- 
merich, Bullinger  studied  Latin,  and,  like  Luther, 
sang  hymns  in  the  streets,  so  as  to  get  money  to  gain 
an  education.     At  the  age  of  15,  he  went  to  the  great 


SWITZERLAND  15 

Catholic  University  at  Cologne,  in  order  to  study  for 
the  priesthood.  There,  while  reading  dogmatics,  he 
discovered  that  they  referred  constantly  to  the  early 
church  fathers.  So  he  went  to  their  source,  the 
church  fathers,  and  found  Chrysostom's  Homilies  on 
Matthew  and  other  works  of  the  fathers.  From  them 
he  began  reading  Luther's  writings.  These  led  him 
still  further  to  the  root  of  things,  so  that  he  did  not 
stop  with  the  fathers  until  he  went  to  the  source 
whence  they  drew  their  authority,  namely,  the  New 
Testament.  Day  and  night  he  thus  studied  (1521- 
1522).  The  result  was  that  he  gave  up  the  idea  of  be- 
coming a  priest  and  became  a  Protestant  instead. 

Meanwhile  strange  changes  were  taking  place  in 
his  native  land  of  Switzerland,  under  Zwingli.  So 
when  he  went  home  he  at  once  found  a  school  ready 
for  him  in  which  he  could  teach,  at  Cappel,  where 
Zwingli  afterwards  was  killed  on  the  battlefield.  Here 
he  became  greatly  influenced  by  Zwingli's  teachings. 

In  1529  he  was  called  to  be  assistant  to  his  aged 
father,  pastor  of  the  church  at  Bremgarten.  But  in 
1 53 1,  when  Zwingli  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Cappel, 
the  war  drove  both  Bullinger  and  his  father  from 
Bremgarten,  and  they  fled  to  Zurich.  Here  every- 
thing was  in  confusion  after  Zwingli's  death.  There 
was  danger  of  a  reaction  toward  Catholicism.  To  pre- 
vent this,  the  Reformed  were  anxiously  looking  about 
for  a  leader.  They  first  invited  Ecolampadius,  of 
Basle,  to  come  and  take  Zwingli's  place,  and  mean- 
while asked  Bullinger  to  preach  in  the  cathedral.  His 
preaching  astonished  every  one.  Though  so  young  a 
man  (only  28)  he  revealed  just  the  qualities  they  sought 
for  in  their  leader.  And  so,  as  Ecolampadius  de- 
clined, he  was  elected  to  this  important  position  (Dec. 


i6  SWITZERLAND 

9,  1 531)  just  two  months  after  Zwingli's  death.  He 
proved  to  be  the  man  for  the  hour.  His  learning, 
eloquence,  common  sense  and  earnest  piety  enabled 
him  to  fill  that  difficult  office  with  success.  By  his 
wisdom  he  destroyed  the  hopes  of  the  Catholics  and 
by  his  firmness  he  rallied  the  power  of  the  Reformed. 
He  soon  was  known  all  over  Europe  as  the  worthy 
successor  of  Zwingli.  During  his  life  Zurich  became 
the  asylum  for  all  Reformed  refugees.  There  English 
bishops  and  Italian  refugees  from  Locarno  rejoiced 
at  his  kindly  reception.  He  had  taken  the  wife  and 
family  of  Zwingli  into  his  own  home  after  Zwingli's 
death,  and  cared  for  them  as  his  own.  The  same 
kindness  he  showed  to  the  persecuted  foreigners,  even 
starting  an  English  theological  seminary  for  the 
young  English  students  for  the  ministry  who  were 
there.  His  kindness  was  so  appreciated  by  the  Eng- 
lish, that  Queen  Elizabeth  afterwards  presented  him 
with  a  goblet  as  a  token  of  the  appreciation  of  the 
English  people.  He  wrote  many  theological  works, 
the  most  important  being  the  "Second  Helvetic  Con- 
fession," which  was  adopted  by  all  the  Swiss  Re- 
formed churches  as  their  creed.  Frederick  the  Third, 
of  the  Palatinate,  was  so  pleased  with  this  creed  that 
he  incorporated  it  in  his  will.  His  writings  were  in 
great  favor,  especially  among  the  English,  his  "Ten 
Decades"  being  for  many  years  the  leading  theolo- 
gical text-book  in  England.  But  his  most  important 
work  was  to  unite  the  two  Reformed  churches  of 
Switzerland,  the  Southern  or  French  Reformed,  and 
the  Northern  or  German  Reformed.  This  he  did  by 
uniting  with  John  Calvin  in  the  Zurich  (Tigurine) 
Confession  (1549).  He  died  at  Zurich,  honored  near 
and  far  by  all,  Sept.  17,  1575. 


SWITZERLAND  17 

John  Calvin. 

If  Zwingli  was  the  founder  of  our  Reformed 
Church,  John  Calvin  was  its  organizer.  He  was  the 
greatest  commentator  and  most  acute  theologian  of 
the  Reformation.  He  was  a  Frenchman,  born  at 
Noyon,  in  Northern  France,  July  10,  1509.  He  was 
destined  for  the  priesthood,  and  studied  at  Paris  and 
Bourges  in  Fr?,nce.  At  the  latter  place  he  met  a  Ger- 
man, Wo'lmar,  who  did  for  him  what  Wyttenbach  had 
done  for  Zwingli — he  led  him  to  Christ(i535).*  Called 
to  preach  first  at  Bourges,  Calvin  then  became  pastor 
of  the  rapidly  increasing  Reformed  Church  of  Paris.  But 
because  of  an  inaugural  address  favoring  Protestant- 
ism which  he  prepared  for  the  rector  of  the  university, 
he  was  compelled  to  flee.  For  two  years  he  was  a 
fugitive  under  assumed  names.  He  spent  some  time 
in  the  library  of  his  friend  du  Tille,  at  Angouleme;  at 
another  time  he  was  at  Poictiers.  There  he  did  a  braver 
thing  than  ever  the  Black  Prince  of  England  had  done 
in  battle  there,  centuries  before.  Calvin  gathered  a 
few  Reformed  together  in  a  cave,  still  called  "Calvin's 
Cave."  Behind  it  were  the  ruins  of  a  Roman  acque- 
duct,  below  it  flowed  the  river.  There  he  assembled 
them  to  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  pledged 
them  to  go  out  and  save  France  for  Protestantism — 
an  act  which  led  some  of  them  to  martyrdom.  Calvin 
again  went  to  Paris,  but  was  again  compelled  to  flee. 
On  his  way  to  Strassburg  he  was  robbed  of  all  that 
he  had.  But  Strassburg  was  the  asylum  of  all  God's 
saints,  and  good  mother  Zell,  the  wife  of  the  first  re- 
former there,  gave  him  a  welcome  to  their  home.     He 


*N0TE.— Le  Franc,  in  his  late  work,  claims  tliat  Calvin's  parents  were 
Protestants  and  that  he  was  a  Protestant  before  he  went  to  study  at  these 
universities. 


i8  SWITZERLAND 

then  went  to  Basle,  where  he  wrote  his  immortal  "In- 
stitutes," the  finest  work  on  doctrine  that  appeared  in 
the  Reformation.  It  was  a  wonderful  creation  for  a 
young  man  of  only  27  years  of  age;  but  it  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  Reformation  made  men  precocious. 
Then  he  went  to  northern  Italy,  to  the  court  of  Coun- 
tess Rene  at  Ferrara,  who  sympathized  with  the  Refor- 
mation. So  even  in  Italy,  the  Pope's  country,  he 
bore  witness  for  the  truth.  But  the  Inquisition  did 
not  allow  him  to  remain  there  long  undisturbed,  and 
he  fled.  There  is  a  pass  over  the  southern  Alps  to 
Switzerland  called  the  St.  Bernard  pass,  famous  now 
for  its  large  and  intelligent  dogs.  At  the  southern 
end  of  it,  at  Aosta,  is  a  place  still  shown  as  "Calvin's 
Farm,"  where  he  staid  temporarily  in  his  flight  to 
Switzerland. 

And  now  we  come  to  one  of  the  most  dramatic 
scenes  in  Reformed  Church  history, — the  call  of  Cal- 
vin. It  and  the  defence  of  our  Heidelberg  Catechism 
by  Elector  Frederick  III.,  at  Augsburg,  in  1566,  are 
the  two  greatest  dramatic  scenes  in  our  history.  The 
bravest  of  all  the  early  reformers  was  William  Farel. 
"He  never  feared  man,  only  God."  Like  Calvin,  he 
was  a  LVenchman,  and  had  been  driven  out  of  France 
for  his  Reformed  faith.  But  as  he  could  not  save 
France,  he  would  save  French  Switzerland.  So,  dis- 
guised as  a  schoolmaster,  he  appeared  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  canton  of  Bern  and  began  teaching  the 
pcoi)lc  the  Gos])el.  This  caused  a  commotion.  Then 
he  crossed  the  lake  of  Neuchatel  one  December  day  in 
a  little  boat.  Not  great  Caesar  of  Rome  in  his  l)oat 
in  a  storm  carried  a  greater  destiny  with  him  than  did 
Farel  in  his  boat,  for  he  came  to  save  the  canton  of 
Neuchatel   and   French   Switzerland.        Forbidden   to 


SWITZERLAND  19 

preach  in  the  churches,  he  made  a  pulpit  of  the  stone 
in  the  cemetery  of  the  church  at  Serrieres  and  pro- 
claimed the  evangelical  gospel.  Soon  they  called  on 
him  to  come  to  the  neighboring  city  of  Neuchatel, 
where  he  preached  at  a  fountain.  And  at  last  they  took 
him  by  main  force  from  this  fountain  and  hurried  him 
up  the  steep  hill  to  the  cathedral  of  Neuchatel.  Here 
from  his  pulpit  Farel  preached  the  Gospel  and  that  day 
they  cast  all  the  images  out  of  the  church.  The  trav- 
eler who  visits  Neuchatel  today  will  see  in  that  church 
the  inscription,  "On  October  23,  1530,  idolatry  was 
overthrown  and  removed  from  this  church  by  the  citi- 
zens." But  Farel  had  his  eye  on  the  conquest  of  a 
greater  city  than  Neuchatel,  namely,  Geneva.  To 
it  he  stole  and  privately  began  holding  services.  The 
Papists  became  alarmed  at  him  and  tried  in  every  way 
to  get  rid  of  him.  They  tried  to  shoot  him,  but  the 
gun  failed  to  go  ofif  and  the  intrepid  reformer  said,  "I 
fear  your  gun  no  more  than  if  it  were  a  popgun." 
They  tried  to  poison  him,  ijut  fortunately  he  did  not 
eat  of  the  poisoned  soup,  although  the  poison  almost 
carried  off  his  young  helper  and  reformer,  Viret.  In 
spite  of  all  these  obstacles,  the  Reformation  continued 
to  gain  power  in  Geneva,  and  Farel  soon  felt  that  the 
work  was  getting  too  great  for  him. 

Just  as  Farel  was  praying  for  God  to  send  some  one 
to  help,  Calvin  came  to  the  city.  He  expected  to  stay 
only  over  night,  but  in  the  providence  of  God  he  was 
led  to  stay  there  almost  a  whole  lifetime.  Farel  heard 
of  his  arrival  and  a  voice  seemed  to  say  to  him,  "This 
is  the  man  whom  you  are  seeking."  "Stay  with  me," 
he  said  to  Calvin,  "and  help  me."  Calvin  refused. 
He  wanted  to  study,  to  travel,  to  rest.  He  was  not 
strong  enough  to  undertake  so  great  a  work  as  to  re- 


20  SWITZERLAND 

form  Geneva.  Farel  reminded  him  of  the  fate  of 
Jonah  fleeing  from  his  duty.  Calvin  was  shaken  by 
the  struggle  going  on  within  him  like  an  oak  assailed 
by  the  tempest.  Suddenly  Farel,  fixing  his  eyes  of 
fire  on  him,  placing  his  hands  on  Calvin's  head,  ex- 
claimed in  a  voice  of  thunder,  "May  God  curse  your 
repose  and  your  studies  if  in  such  a  necessity  you  re- 
fuse to  give  us  help."  Calvin  trembled  in  every  limb 
and  finally  yielded  and  stayed  at  Geneva.  His  re- 
forms, however,  were  so  severe  that  a  reaction  took 
place.  And  when  he  refused  to  introduce  the  church 
customs  of  Bern,  he  and  Farel  were  compelled  to 
leave  Geneva  (1538).  He  found  a  refuge,  as  before, 
at  Strassburg,  and  l-'arel  found  a  home  at  Neuchatel. 
Calvin's  stay  at  Strassburg  was  very  important,  for  it 
brought  him  in  contact  with  the  German  reformers 
and  also  enabled  him  to  counteract  some  of  the  Cath- 
olic designs  in  Germany.  There  Melancthon  ])ccame 
his  warm  friend.  He  also  found  a  wife,  Idelette  Van 
Buren,  whom  he  married  in  1540.  But  Geneva  could 
not  get  along  without  Calvin.  Matters  went  from 
bad  to  worse,  until  in  1541  the  city  was  glad  to  recall 
him.  And  from  that  time  until  his  death  he  was  the 
great  reformer  of  Geneva.  By  his  strict  moral  code 
it  became  the  model  city  of  that  age,  and  his  fame 
drew  many  scholars  to  it.  An  unfortunate  event  oc- 
curred when  Servetus,  for  his  pantheizing  unbelief, 
was  burned  at  Geneva,  Oct.  2y,  1553.  Calvin  has 
been  charged  with  having  caused  his  death.  But  this 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  true,  for  Servetus'  judges 
were  Calvin's  political  enemies.*  But  his  extra- 
ordinary labors  as  preacher,  pastor,  professor,  and 
leader,    proved    too   great    for   his    frail    body.      His 

•Note.— See  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Review,  July,  1893. 


SWITZERLAND  21 

health  Ijcgan  to  give  way,  until  he  was  confined  to  his 
bed.  On  April  30,  1564,  he  gathered  the  city  council 
of  Geneva  before  his  deathbed  and  addressed  them, 
thanking  them  for  their  kindness,  asking  pardon  for 
his  occasional  impatience,  and  exhorting  them  to  con- 
tinue in  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ.  They  were  moved 
to  tears  by  his  remarks.  His  last  days  were  spent  in 
prayer.  With  the  setting  of  the  sun  he  fell  asleep 
May  2y,  1564.  Great  was  the  grief  of  Geneva,  in 
which  she  had  the  sympathy  of  Protestants  all  over 
Europe.  In  the  cemetery  at  Geneva  is  a  stone  marked 
J.  C.,  which  is  said  to  mark  the  grave  of  Calvin,  but 
this  is  not  probable,  for  he,  with  his  characteristic 
modesty,  desired  that  his  grave  be  unknown.  His 
better  monument  was  the  city  of  Geneva  and  the  Cal- 
vinistic  churches  which  since  his  day  have  spread  all 
over  the  world. 

SECTION  III. 

7Hi0tori5  of  tbc  IRefcrmeD  Cburcb  of  Zuticb. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Zurich  that  wdien  such  great 
minds  as  Zwingli  and  Bullinger  had  passed  away,  she 
still  had  a  minister  of  the  first  rank,  intellectually,  to 
put  into  their  place  as  antistes.*  The  third  antistes 
was  Rudolph  Gualther  (i 575-1 585).  He  was  the  son- 
in-law  of  Zwingli.  For  Bullinger  had  noticed  this 
precocious  youth  and  taken  him  into  his  family,  where 
he  already  had  the  family  of  Zvv^ingli.  So  that  Gual- 
ther grew  up  with,  and  married,  Zwingli's  favorite 
daughter,  Regula.  Soon  after  he  became  pastor  at 
Zurich  he  created  a  great  sensation  by  preaching  a 
sermon  against  the  Pope  as  anti-Christ.  The  Catho- 
lics, who  had  been  plotting  against  Zurich  ever  since 


*I*roTE,— Antistes  is  the  head  minister  of  the  canton. 


22  SlVirZERLAND 

Zwingli's  death,  made  an  effort  to  get  him  punished 
by  the  Swiss  government.  FaiUng  in  this,  they  re- 
sorted to  treachery.  One  day  as  Gualther  was  going 
to  morning  service  at  the  cathedral  a  stranger  met 
him  and  warned  him  that  if  three  young  men,  clothed 
in  white,  came  to  see  him,  he  should  not  admit  them 
to  his  house  or  read  their  letters,  for  they  wanted 
to  assassinate  him.  Gualther  put  his  family  on  their 
guard.  Fifteen  days  after,  wdiile  he  was  at  dinner, 
one  of  the  students  who  boarded  with  him,  admitted 
three  young  men  dressed  in  white.  Gualther  arose 
from  his  seat  with  his  dinner  knife  in  one  hand  and 
a  dagger  in  the  other.  The  strangers  seeing  him  and 
the  students  who  were  boarding  with  him  so  well  arm- 
ed, went  away,  leaving  letters  with  him.  When  he 
searched  for  them  at  the  hotel  where  they  said  they 
stopped,  he  could  not  find  them.  And  it  was  found 
afterwards  that  they  had  horses  secreted  near  the 
town,  so  as  to  escape  when  they  had  assassinated  him. 
Thus  the  Lord  spared  his  life  and  made  him  finally 
the  head  of  the  Zurich  church,  worthy  of  his  prede- 
cessors. "Zwingli,"  says  a  writer,  "excelled  in  his  ex- 
cellent reforms,  Bullinger  in  his  commentaries,  and 
Gualther  in  his  sermons  and  homilies." 

The  seventh  antistes  (the  fourth  from  Gualther)  was 
also  a  great  man,  John  Jacob  Breitinger  (1613-1645). 
He  was  educated  at  Zurich  and  also  in  Holland,  where 
he  formed  many  acquaintances  who  afterwards 
greatly  affected  his  life,  as  at  the  synod  of  Dort.  Hav- 
ing returned  to  Zurich,  he  became  pastor  there.  In 
1610  occurred  an  event  that  made  him  the  most  hated 
and  the  most  loved  man  in  Zurich.  That  summer  he 
quietly  went  on  a  vacation  trip  to  southern  Switzer- 
land.    Hardly  had  he  gone  before  the  plague  broke 


SWITZERLAND  23 

out  in  Zurich  with  terrible  violence.  At  once  the 
rumor  started  that  he  had  fled  from  his  post  of  duty 
because  of  fear  of  the  plague.  So  great  was  the  feel- 
ing against  him  that  his  wife  hardly  dared  go  out  of 
the  house.  In  the  meanwhile,  all  oblivious  of  this,  he 
continued  his  tour.  When  he  returned  he  at  once  set 
to  work  to  allay  the  prejudice  by  faithful  visitation  on 
the  sick.  He  was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
visiting  the  sick  morning,  noon  and  at  midnight.  His 
pastoral  visits  became  so  popular  that  he  was  sent  for 
from  every  part  of  the  city.  Often  at  night  five  or  six 
persons  would  be  waiting  at  his  house  to  take  him  to 
their  sick.  Mercifully  his  health  was  spared,  although 
the  plague  carried  off  6,000  in  Zurich.  Through  this 
plague  he  became  the  most  popular  minister  there. 
And  when  there  was  a  vacancy  he  was  elected  antistes 

(1613). 

It  was  a  fortunate  thing  for  Zurich  that  she  had  so 
great  a  man  in  the  antistes'  chair  at  that  time,  for  two 
storms,  one  political,  the  other  religious,  were  gather- 
ing over  her.  The  first  vvas  the  awful  Thirty  Years' 
war,  the  second  was  the  Arminian  controversy  in  Hol- 
land. It  needed  both  a  very  profound  theologian  and 
a  very  wise  manager  to  carry  the  Church  safely 
through  the  storms  that  then  threatened  her.  Fortu- 
nately Breitinger  was  the  man  for  the  hour.  In  1618 
the  Dutch  government  and  the  theologians  sent  an 
invitation  to  the  Suass  Reformed  churches  to  send 
delegates  to  the  synod  of  Dort  (in  Holland)  which  was 
to  decide  the  controversy  that  had  arisen  between 
the  Calvinists  and  Arminians  in  Holland.*  At 
first  the  Swiss  held  back  from  accepting  the  invita- 
tion because  thev  did  not  want  to  become  involved  in 


JS'OTE.— The  ArminiHns  gave  up  the  doctrine  of  predestination. 


24  SWITZERLAND 

what  seemed  to  them  a  foreign  controversy.  But 
IJreitingcr's  early  student  friends  in  Holland  appealed 
to  him  to  use  his  influence  in  their  favor.  They  urged 
that  Zurich,  as  the  mother  Church  of  the  Reformed, 
ought  to  be  represented  at  the  synod,  so  as  to  declare 
the  doctrine  of  early  Reformed  Church.  So  Breit- 
inger,  with  six  other  Swiss  delegates,  was  sent  to  the 
synod.  But  he  was  the  leader  of  the  delegation,  al- 
though Diodati,  of  Geneva,  was  also  prominent.  For- 
tunate it  was  for  Zurich  that  she  had  so  able  an  antistes 
at  that  time,  who  could  exert  such  a  commanding  in- 
fluence at  Dort  and  bring  credit  to  herself.  When  he 
arrived  at  Dort,  he  was  received  with  great  honor  by 
the  Dutch  because  he  was  the  representative  of  the 
mother  church  of  the  Reformed  and  the  successor  of 
Zwingli.  At  this  synod  (1618-1619)  he  took  sides 
against  the  Arminians,  but  did  not  favor  the  severe 
civil  measures  that  were  used  by  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment against  them.  When  he  returned  home  from 
Dort  the  Dutch  government  rewarded  him  very  hand- 
somely, and  when  he  again  came  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Canton  of  Zurich  he  was  received  with  so  much 
honor  that  his  course  was  like  the  triumphal  entry  of 
a  conqueror. 

After  Breitinger's  death,  it  became  noticeable  that 
the  strongest  thinkers  were  not  in  the  antistes'  chair, 
but  were  outside  of  it,  in  the  professors'  chairs.  The 
most  brilliant  mind  that  Zurich  then  produced  was 
Prof,  John  Henry  Hottinger,  who  was  professor  at 
Zurich  (1653- 1 667).  So  great  was  his  talent  for  lan- 
guages that  he  became  the  foremost  Hebrew  scholar 
in  his  day.  The  Elector  (prince)  of  the  Palatinate  in 
Germany  borrowed  him  for  a  few  years  to  teach  in 
his  university  at  Heidelberg.      There  is  a  story  told 


SWITZERLAND  25 

that  a  Jewish  rabbi  with  his  son,  called  to^  see  him 
there.  The  rabbi  had  for  a  long  time  been  trying 
with  little  success,  to  train  his  son  to  speak  Hebrew. 
When  the  rabbi  heard  with  what  ease  Hottinger 
spoke  Hebrew,  he  suddenly  fell  into  a  great  rage  and 
began  beating  his  son  severely,  saying,  "You  clown, 
how  long  have  I  taught  you  Hebrew  and  you  let  your- 
self be  outdone  by  this  Christian."  The  Elector  tried 
to  retain  him  at  Heidelberg,  but  Zurich  called  him 
home.  His  fame,  however,  had  become  too  great  for 
Zurich  to  retain  him.  The  University  of  Leyden  in 
Holland,  which  was  the  foremost  Reformed  Univer- 
sity of  its  day,  called  him  twice.  The  second  call  he 
accepted,  and  he  was  about  leaving  Zurich  when  he 
was  accidentally  drowned  there  in  the  Limmat  River, 
to  the  great  sorrow  of  the  Reformed  of  Zurich  and  of 
all  Europe. 

The  most  able  theologian  of  Zurich  was  Prof.  John 
Henry  Heidegger.  Like  Hottinger,  he  was  educated 
in  Holland  as  well  as  at  Zurich,  but  returned  home, 
where  he  was  made  professor  in  Hottinger's  place. 
His  fine  theological  abilities  led  to  his  appointment 
to  draw  up  the  new  Creed,  the  Helvetic  Consensus,  in 
1675.  The  Swiss  Church  had  before  adopted  the  Sec- 
ond Helvetic  Confession,  but  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury a  triumvirate  of  theologians — Gernler  of  Basle, 
Turretin  of  Geneva,  and  Heidegger  of  Zurich — de- 
sired a  new  creed,  which  should  be  directed  against 
the  school  of  Saumur,  in  France,  which  held  lower 
views  on  predestination.  Heidegger  drew  up  the 
creed  with  great  care  and  ability.  After  Heidegger 
the  only  antistes  of  any  note  was  the  thirteenth, 
Klingler.  who  was  a  strong  leader  for  the  Church. 

In   1722  the  King  of  Prussia  requested  the  Swiss 


26  SWITZERLAND 

Churches  to  cast  off  the  new  creed,  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus, because  its  high  Calvinism  prevented  Church 
union.  In  this  movement  he  was  aided  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  in  England.  A  new  triumvirate 
of  Swiss  theologians — Werenfels  of  Basle,  Osterwald 
of  Neuchatel,  and  A.  Turretin  of  Geneva — aided  in 
securing  its  rejection  by  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
the  different  Swiss  cantons.  Basle,  Geneva  and  Neu- 
chatel cast  aside  its  authority,  but  Zurich  and  Berne 
retained  it,  in  spite  of  all  influence  brought  to  bear  on 
them.  Zurich  recognized  its  authority  as  late  as  1741, 
when  it  declared  for  the  old  creeds  over  against  the 
rationalism  which  had  entered  the  Church  through 
Antistes  Wirz  and  Professor  Zimmerman. 

After  rationalism  had  blighted  the  Church  of  Zurich 
for  well  nigh  half  a  century  (1741-1795),  a  reaction 
took  place  back  to  orthodoxy.  Two  men  became  es- 
pecially prominent  in  this  movement.  The  first  was 
J.  Casper  Lavater,  probably  the  most  eloquent 
preacher  of  his  day  in  Europe,  who  astonished  the 
Zurich  Church  in  1779  by  coming  out  boldly  against 
rationalism.  Even  in  the  first  year  of  his  ministry 
(1762)  he  showed  the  braveness  of  his  heart.  A 
Zurich  magistrate,  Grebel,  was  known  for  his  corrup- 
tion and  bribes,  yet  because  he  was  of  an  influential 
family,  every  one  feared  to  bring  accusations  against 
him.  Not  so  Lavater.  Although  so  young  a  man,  he 
brought  charges  against  the  magistrate.  At  first  the 
magistrate  laughed  at  him,  but  soon  he  fled  from  the 
town.  This  natural  boldness  of  Lavater,  which  led 
him  so  early  to  attack  this  magistrate,  led  him  just  as 
boldly  to  attack  rationalism.  He  was  called  to  the 
largest  and  wealthiest  Church  in  Zurich,  St.  Peter's. 
Here  with  great  eloquence,  from  1778  to  1801,  he  at- 


SWITZERLAND  27 

tacked  rationalism  and  preached  the  Gospel  of  Jesus. 
And  he  was  as  bold  politically  as  he  was  theolog-ically. 
His  denunciation  of  the  French,  who  conquered  Swit- 
zerland at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  made  them  his 
bitter  enemies,  and  finally  led  to  his  death.  When  the 
battle  of  Zurich  was  taking  place  (1799),  he  was  about 
to  perform  a  kind  act  tO'  a  French  soldier,  on  the  street 
near  his  home,  when  one  of  them  shot  him.  Severely 
wounded,  he  lingered  for  about  a  year  in  great  pain 
and  then  died  (January  2,  1801,)  rejoicing  in  hope. 
His  death  bed  was  a  transfiguration  scene. 

The  second  was  John  Jacob  Hess,  the  eighteenth  an- 
tistes  (1795- 1 828).  He  was  less  brilliant  than  Lava- 
tcr,  but  a  more  practical  man.  In  his  character  he 
reminds  one  of  Breitinger.  Indeed  it  may  be  said 
that  Zurich  had  in  all  five  great  antistes,  Zwingli,  Bul- 
linger,  Gualther,  Breitinger  and  Hess.  Fortunate  it 
was  for  Zurich  that  she  had  a  man,  at  once  so  wise 
and  so  able  as  Hess  to  lead  the  Church  through  the 
dangerous  days  of  the  French  occupation.  He  was 
a  man  of  superb  poise  of  character  and  self-control, 
a  genius  of  common  sense.  When  the  French  were 
bombarding  Zurich  in  1802,  he  kept  on  writing  his 
sermon  as  if  nothing  were  happening  around  him.  He 
was  the  calm  John  of  that  age  as  Lavater  was  the  im- 
pulsive Peter.  The  one  complemented  the  other,  but 
both  were  true  disciples  of  Christ  against  rationalism. 
He  is  famous  for  his  "Life  of  Christ,"  the  first  of  its 
kind.  Providence  blessed  him  with  long  life,  so  that 
in  his  old  age  he  was  privileged  to  preside  over  the 
tercentenary  of  the  Reformation  at  Zurich,  January  i, 
1819.  Although  eighty  years  of  age,  he  made  an  able 
address  which  for  its  ability  and  adherence  in  the  old 
faith  made  many  think  he  was  a  "Zwingli  risen  from 


28  SWITZERLAND 

the  dead."  This  sketch  of  the  Zurich  Church  is  im- 
portant for  us  because  it  reveals  not  merely  the  origin 
of  our  Reformed  Church  in  the  days  of  the  Reforma- 
tion and  because  so  many  of  our  early  ministers,  who 
organized  our  Church  in  America  came  from  north- 
eastern Switzerland,  whose  theology  and  thought,  for 
the  last  three  centuries,  were  dominated  mainly  by 
Zurich. 


CHAPTER  11. 


3WITZERLAND  was  too  small  a  land  to  re- 
tain the  Reformed  faith  within  her  borders. 
It  spread  to  other  lands  and  soon  proved  a 
blessing  to  all  Europe.  France,  Holland, 
England,  Scotland,  Bohemia,  Hungary, 
Germany,  all  received  it.  Of  these  the  land  that  in- 
terests us  mostly  is  Germany,  the  land  of  our  fore- 
fathers. 

SECTION  I. 

Hbe  liaritins  ot  tbc  jHeiOelbcrg  Gatecblsm. 

In  Germany  the  Reformed  doctrines  were  late  in 
gaining  permanent  hold.  The  early  German  Refor- 
mation was  almost  entirely  Lutheran.  Not  until 
nearly  half  a  century  after,  about  1662,  did  the  Re- 
formed doctrines  gain  a  firm  foothold  in  Germany, 
by  conquering  the  Palatinate.  It  is  true  the  first  Re- 
formed congregation  in  Germany  was  organized  as 
early  as  1526  by  Aportanus  at  Emden,  a  town  at  the 
extreme  northwestern  end  of  Germany.  And  there 
had  also  been  certain  movements  toward  the  Re- 
formed as  at  Strassburg  by  Bucer  (1524- 1549);  and 
at  the  conference  at  Marburg  (1529),  where  Lambert 
of  Avignon,  the  reformer  of  Hesse,  was  led  to  em- 
brace the  Reformed  faith,  and  the  Presbyterian  form  of 
government  was  introduced  into  Hesse. 


30  GERMANY 

The  Church  at  Eniden  has  an  interesting  history. 
For  it  was  there  that  John  A.  Lasco  became  the  first 
great  Reformed  reformer  of  Germany.  Born  in  Po- 
land, 1499,  he  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  char- 
acters of  the  Reformation — "a  soul  without  a  stain," 
as  Erasmus  said.*  He  it  was  who  first  laid  the  per- 
nianent  foundations  of  the  Reformed  faith  in  Ger- 
many. He  had  a  brilliant  career  as  a  student  and  a 
bright  future  before  him  in  the  Catholic  Church,  as 
his  uncle  was  the  head  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Po- 
land and  he  was  in  a  fair  way  to  succeed  his  uncle  in 
his  dignities  and  titles.  But  he  gave  up  his  honors 
and  wealth  and  nobility  to  become  a  reformer;  for 
while  being  educated,  he  had  traveled  westward  from 
J^oland  to  Switzerland  and  met  Erasmus,  and  through 
him  he  became  a  Humanist.  He  returned  to  Poland 
and  became  Catholic  archdeacon  of  Warsaw.  But 
he  was  not  satisfied.  Humanism  and  its  learning 
failed  to  satisfy  him.  Only  the  Evangelical  doctrine, 
which  he  had  once  heard  from  Zwingli  (1523),  satis- 
fied him,  and  so  he  became  a  Protestant.  Having 
left  Poland  he  came  to  East  Fricsland,  of  which  Em- 
den  was  the  capital,  and  its  ruler  persuaded  him  in 
1544  to  become  the  superintendent  of  the  Church  in 
his  land.  Lasco  at  once  introduced  the  simple  wor- 
ship of  the  Reformed  and  organized  (1544)  the  Coetus 
(a  sort  of  Synod),  the  oldest  Reformed  organization  in 
Europe  today,  except  the  Venerable  Company 
of  Geneva.  This  Coetus  is  still  in  existence  and 
holds  its  meetings  regularly  at  Eniden.  Then  he  went 
to  England  to  aid  the  Reformation  there,  but  was 
driven  out  by  the  persecution  under  bloody  Queen 
Mary.  Those  who  accompanied  him  in  his  vessel 
were  refused  shelter  by  Denmark  because  they  w^ere 

*NoTE.— Kor  (iillcr  accounts  of  this  iiiteresting  man  see  The  OriKin  of  the 
Reformed  Church  In  Germany,  by  Uev.  JumeH  I.  Good,  D.D.,  pages  80-108. 


GERMANY  31 

Reformed,  but  he  succeeded  in  finding  his  way  back 
to  Emden.  Then  he  went  to  Frankford  where  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  His 
anxiety  for  his  Church  at  Frankford  led  him  to  go  to 
Heidelberg  to  get  the  Elector  of  the  Palatinate  to  in- 
tercede for  him.  Soon,  however,  he  had  a  fine  op- 
portunity to  go  back  to  Poland,  which  was  now  open- 
ing up  to  the  Gospel.  He  returned  there  and  foimded 
its  Reformed  Church  and  aided  in  translating  the  Po- 
lish Bible.  He  died  there  1560.  He  was  a  prince- 
preacher — a  reformer  in  three  lands,  Germany,  Eng- 
land and  Poland. 

But  the  most  important  event  for  the  Reformed 
was  the  conversion  of  the  Palatinate  from  Lutheran- 
ism  to  the  Reformed  faith.  The  Palatinate  in  west- 
ern Germany,  situated  on  both  sides  of  the  Rhine,  and 
whose  capital  was  Heidelberg,  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  fertile  parts  of  Germany.  Certain 
events  had  been  preparing  parts  of  Germany  to  re- 
ceive the  Reformed  faith.  The  main  one  was  the 
conflict  in  the  Lutheran  Church.  Luther  was  now 
dead  and  his  follow-ers  split  into  two  parties,  a  high 
Lutheran  party  led  by  Flacius,  and  a  low  Lutheran 
led  by  Melancthon  and  his  followers.  While  the 
Lutherans  were  dividing,  the  Reformed  doctrines 
were  becoming  better  known  in  Germany.  So  that 
a  large  part  of  the  Melancthonians,  wearied  of  the 
attacks  of  the  high  Lutherans  011  them,  went  over 
to  the  Reformed.  The  first  prince  to  do  this  was 
Elector  Frederick  HL,  of  the  Palatinate,  one  of  the 
best  and  most  pious  princes  of  his  day.  When  he 
came  to  the  throne  he  found  four  dififerent  parties  in 
his  Church, — High  Lutherans,  led  by  Hesshuss; 
Zwinglians,  led  by  Erastus;  Melancthonians,  led  by 


32  GERMANY 

Diller,  and  Calvinists,  led  by  Boquin.  Hesshuss,  by 
his  narrow  bigotry,  caused  the  Elector  to  dislike  him 
and  he  was  soon  deposed.  Reformed  professors  like 
Boquin,  Erastus  and  finally  Ursinus  and  Olevianus, 
had  been  appointed,  so  that  in  1562  Frederick,  having 
become  fully  Reformed,  ordered  Ursinus  and  Olevia- 
nus to  prepare  a  new  catechism.  Who  were  these 
two  young  men,  the  one  only  26  years  of  age,  the 
other  only  28,  who  were  so  mature  as  to  prepare  one 
of  the  most  wonderful  of  creeds? 

Zachariah  Ursinus  was  born  in  eastern  Germany, 
at  Breslau,  July  18,  1534.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Me- 
lancthon  at  Wittenberg  and  was  compelled  to  leave 
his  native  city  by  the  High  Lutherans  because  of  his 
sympathy  with  Melancthonianism.  He  then  went 
to  Zurich,  in  Switzerland,  where  he  came  under  Re- 
formed influences,  especially  of  Peter  Martyr.  When 
the  latter  refused  a  call  to  Heidelberg  University, 
Ursinus  was  called  in  his  place  (1561).  He  there  be- 
came professor  in  the  Sapienz  college,  which  was  in- 
tended to  prepare  young  men  for  the  ministry.  He 
was  one  of  the  strongest  theologians  of  that  second 
generation  of  reformers. 

Casper  Olevianus,  the  other  author  of  our  cate- 
chism, was  from  Western  Germany.  He  was  born 
at  Treves  August  30,  1536,  and  was  educated  at 
Bourges,  in  France.  Here  an  event  turned  his  mind 
to  the  Gospel  ministry.  He  had  at  this  university 
an  intimate  friend  in  the  son  of  the  Elector  of  the  Pa- 
latinate. They  were  walking  together  along  the  shore 
of  the  river,  when  some  students  called  to  them  to 
join  them  in  their  boat.  The  prince  accepted  but 
Olevianus  refused.  A  few  moments  after,  the  boat 
was  upset  and  all  thrown  out.      Olevianus  rushed  into 


GERMANY  33 

the  water  to  save  the  prince,  but  instead  found  him- 
self in  imminent  danger  of  drowning.  While  thus 
hanging  between  life  and  death  he  vowed  that  if  God 
would  spare  his  life  he  would  become  a  minister.  The 
servant  of  the  prince  then  came,  rushed  into  the  wa- 
ter and  saved  Olevianus.  True  to  his  promise,  he 
studied  theology  under  Calvin  at  Geneva.  But  his 
heart  burned  to  tell  the  Gospel  to  his  own  city,  which 
was  one  of  the  most  priest-ridden  cities  of  Europe. 
So  having  gained  a  position  there  as  teacher,  he  had 
the  boldness  one  morning  to  nail  up  on  the  city  hall 
a  notice  that  he  would  hold  an  evangelical  service 
that  Sunday  morning.  The  people  came  in  crowds 
to  hear  this  novelty,  but  the  Catholic  Elector  of 
Treves,  hearing  of  this,  returned  with  his  army,  be- 
sieged the  town,  captured  it,  drove  out  the  Reformed 
and  put  Olevianus  in  prison.  Elector  Frederick  III., 
of  the  Palatinate,  interceded  for  him  and  he  was  re- 
leased and  appointed  as  preacher  and  superintendent 
at  Heidelberg. 

These  were  the  two  men  appointed  by  the  Elector 
to  prepare  his  new  creed,  in  the  latter  part  of  1562.  It 
was  published  early  in  1563,  the  Elector's  preface  be- 
ing dated  January  19  of  that  year.  Hence  our  Church 
generally  observes  the  Sunday  nearest  to  that  date 
as  Reformation  Day.  So  popular  did  this  new  creed 
become  that  four  editions  of  it  were  required  in  the 
first  year  (1563).  It  was  introduced  everywhere  in 
the  Palatinate  and  soon  began  to  win  its  way  into 
other  lands.*  But  a  storm  of  opposition  to  it 
began  to  gather  over  Frederick's  head.  The  Luth- 
eran and  Catholic  princes  of  Germany  joined  hands 


*NoTE.— For  the  best  commentary  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  get  Thele- 
man'8,  translated  by  Prof,  M.  Peters. 


34  GERMANY 

to  suppress  it.  A  conference  was  held  at  Maulbron, 
in  Wurtemberg,  near  the  Palatinate  border,  on  April 
lo,  1564,  between  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  theo- 
logians, but  they  could  not  come  to  an  agreement. 
Then  the  Emperor  of  Germany  summoned  Frederick 
to  appear  before  the  Diet  (Congress)  in  May,  1566, 
at  Augsburg,  to  answer  for  his  catechism.  It  looked 
as  if  the  Emperor  would  crush  out  the  catechism  and 
perhaps  depose  Frederick.  So  threatening  did  mat- 
ters look  that  his  brother  warned  Frederick  not  to  go 
to  Augsburg.  Indeed  a  rumor  came  to  Heidelberg 
after  he  had  gone  to  Augsburg  that  he  had  been 
deposed  from  his  throne  because  of  his  catechism. 
But  Frederick  had  the  martyr-spirit  and  said 
he  was  ready  to  suffer  for  his  catechism  if 
necessary.  So  he  went  to  Augsburg  to  the  Diet.* 
On  the  day  appointed  to  him  to  answer  for  his  cate- 
chism (May  14,  1566)  he  entered  the  room  lollowed 
by  his  son  Casimir,  who  carried  a  Bible.  He  defended 
his  catechism,  and  asked  that  it  be  shown  to  be  con- 
trary to  the  Word  of  God.  His  address  was  so  able, 
so  convincing  and  so  spiritual  that  it  disarmed  all  op- 
position. The  Elector  of  Saxony  said:  "Fritz,  you 
are  better  than  all  of  us,"  and  the  Margrave  of  Baden 
remarked:  "Why  trouble  ye  this  man.  He  is  more 
pious  than  all  of  us."  The  result  of  this  trial  was 
that  Frederick  was  allowed  to  retain  his  catechism.  It 
was  a  magnificent  defence  and  revealed  the  true  great- 
ness of  Frederick.  He  continued  to  rule  the  Palati- 
nate until  October  26,  1576,  when  he  died.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  pious  princes  of  an  age  that  produced 
many  pious  princes.       When  asked  why  he  did  not 


*NOTK.— For  a  graphic  account  of  this  most  magnificent  scene  in  our 
Reformed  Cliurch  history  see  Tlie  Origin  of  the  Reformed  Church  by  Rev. 
James  I.  Good,  D.D.,  pages  193-216. 


GERMANY  35 

build  more  forts  he  replied  in  the  words  of  Luther's 
famous  hymn:  "A  mighty  fortress  is  our  God."  The 
money  that  other  princes  spent  in  war  or  luxury  he 
gave  to  churches,  schools  and  hospitals.  He  was  a 
true  nobleman,  a  nobleman  by  character  as  well  as  by 
birth. 

After  his  death  his  successor  and  son,  Elector 
Lewis,  re-introduced  Lutheranism  into  the  Palatinate 
and  both  Ursinus  and  Olevianus  had  to  leave  Heidel- 
berg. Ursinus  went  with  Prince  Casimir  westward 
to  Neustadt,  where  the  latter  opened  a  new  university 
(1578).  Here  Ursinus  taught  theology  with  great 
acceptance  till  he  died,  March  6,  1783.  His  epitaph 
says  of  him — "a  great  theologian,  a  keen-sighted  phi- 
losopher, a  wise  man,  a  mighty  teacher  of  the  youth." 

While  Ursinus  went  to  Neustadt,  Olevianus  went 
northeast  from  Heidelberg,  first  to  Sayn  Wittgenstein 
and  then  settled  at  Herborn  in  Nassau,  (a  district  east 
of  the  Rhine  and  north  of  Frankford).  There  Count 
John,  of  Nassau,  founded  a  new  university  and  made 
him  professor  of  theology.  He  taught  there  till  he 
died,  March  15,  1787.  The  "comfort"  of  his  Heidel- 
berg catechism  remained  with  him  till  he  died,  for  at 
his  death  when  he  was  asked  whether  he  was  certain 
of  salvation,  he  replied,  "I  am  most  certain." 

SECTION  II. 

Z\)c  SprcaO  of  tbe  IReformcD  Cburcb  in  (Serman^. 

The  Reformed  doctrine,  like  the  banyan  tree,  send- 
ing forth  its  shoots,  which  rapidly  grow  into  new  trees, 
spread  rapidly  through  Germany  from  province  to 
province.  The  Reformed  of  Holland,  who  then 
found  a  refuge  from  their  persecutions  in  Germany, 


26  GERMANY 

adopted  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  at  the  Synod  of 
Wesel,  1568.  The  Reformed  faith  was  introduced 
into  Nassau  in  1578,  into  the  lower  Rhine  region 
about  1577,  into  Bremen  in  1581,  into  Zweibrucken 
1588,  into  Anhalt  1597,  and  Lippe  1600.  Two  large 
and  influential  provinces  received  it  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  first  was  Hesse  Cassel.  There 
Landgrave  Maurice,  the  ruler,  weary  of  the  attacks 
of  the  High  Lutherans  on  the  Melancthonians,  with 
whom  he  sympathized,  ordered  in  1604  that  bread  be 
used  instead  of  wafers  at  the  communion.  This 
change  was  usually  the  first  sign  that  a  church  be- 
came Reformed.  He  not  only  introduced  it  into  lower 
or  Eastern  Hesse  but  attempted  to  introduce  it  into 
upper  or  Western  Hesse,  and  for  this  purpose  went 
to  the  capital  of  the  latter  province,  Marburg.  After 
he  left,  on  August  6,  1605,  the  people  who  were  strong 
Lutherans  became  alarmed  by  all  sorts  of  rumors 
about  this  and  broke  out  into  an  open  riot.  They 
forced  the  Reformed  ministers  from  the  pulpit,  drove 
them  into  a  corner  of  the  church,  where  they  assaulted 
them.  One  of  them,  Schonfeld,  thought  they  were 
going  to  kill  him.  As  they  struck  him  to  the  ground 
he  cried  out,  "Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit."  But 
he  afterwards  revived  again.  Another  Reformed 
minister,  Cellarius,  was  pursued  through  the  streets 
until  he  escaped  to  the  country  to  a  place  of  safety. 
The  Reformed  faith  was  not,  therefore,  introduced 
into  upper  Hesse,  although  a  few  congregations  were 
formed  there,  but  lower  Hesse  became  almost  entirely 
Reformed. 

But  the  most  important  addition  to  the  Reformed 
ranks  was  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg.  On  Christ- 
mas week,  161 3,  he  called  his  councillors  together  and 


GERMANY  37 

announced  to  thcni  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
go  over  to  the  Reformed  faith.  His  conversion  cre- 
ated a  great  sensation,  especially  as  he  was  not  follow- 
ed in  it  by  his  people,  who  remained  Lutheran.  On 
Christmas  day,  1613,  he  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper 
at  Berlin  after  the  Reformed  manner,  by  the  use  of 
bread  instead  of  wafers.  His  conversion  was  most 
important,  for  it  gave  to  the  Reformed  two  of  the  six 
Electors  of  Germany  who  elected  the  Emperor.  And 
when  the  Elector  of  the  I'alatinate  afterward  lost  his 
throne,  or  was  no  longer  Reformed,  it  was  this  Bran- 
denburg family  of  princes,  who  always  were  promi- 
nent as  the  great  protectors  of  the  Reformed.  Many 
a  time  did  they  defend  or  intercede  for  their  perse- 
cuted Reformed  brethren.  This  Brandenburg  fam- 
ily afterwards  became  the  Kings  of  Prussia,  who  are 
now  the  royal  family  of  Germany,  and  from  them  the 
present  Emperor  of  Germany  is  a  direct  descendant. 
Thus  the  Reformed  faith  spread  from  Switzerland 
northward  along  the  Rhine  and  to  Bremen;  and  then 
eastward  through  Hesse  and  Anhalt  to  Berlin,  so  that 
perhaps  one-fourth  of  Germany  may  be  said  to  have 
become  Reformed. 

But  although  the  Reformed  faith  has  gained  so 
much  influence,  it  was  not  yet  recognized  by  the  laws 
of  Germany.  To  gain  that,  a  terrible  war,  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  had  to  be  undergone.  The  treaty  of  Augs- 
burg (1555)  had  made  the  only  legal  Protestant  creed 
to  be  the  Augsburg  Confession  of  the  Lutherans.  As 
the  Reformed  had  not  existed  then  as  a  distinct  de- 
nomination in  Germany,  of  course  they  were  not  men- 
tioned by  that  treaty.  The  Heidelberg  Catechism 
was  not  published  till  later  than  1555.  So  during 
their  first  century  the  Reformed  existed  only  by  suf- 


38  GERMANY 

ferance  in  Germany,  though  not  by  law.  They  had 
no  rights  that  might  not  be  taken  away  from  them 
at  any  time,  as  they  were  not  legally  recognized. 
The  Thirty  Years'  War  broke  out  in  1618.* 
Elector  Frederick  V.,  of  the  Palatinate,  the  grand- 
son of  Elector  Frederick  III.,  who  ordered  our 
catechism  to  be  written,  was  elected  King  of 
Bohemia.  This  caused  a  war,  for  Archduke  Fer- 
dinand, of  Austria,  who  had  just  been  elected  Em- 
peror of  Germany,  also  claimed  the  throne  of  Bohe- 
mia. Frederick  went  to  Prague  and  reigned  as  king 
for  only  a  year,  when  he  was  defeated  by  a  one  hour's 
battle  at  White  Mountain,  near  Prague,  Nov.  8,  1620. 
He  was  compelled  to  fiee  and  became  an  exile  from 
his  home  till  his  death,  Nov.  29,  1632. 

With  him  suffered  his  beloved  land,  the  beautiful 
Palatinate.  For  he  was  declared  an  outlaw  by  the 
Emperor,  his  land  was  confiscated  and  at  once  Span- 
ish armies  appeared  in  it  to  take  possession  of  it.  The 
Reformed  people  before  this  time  felt  great  anxiety 
for  their  future  and  spent  much  time  in  prayer.  Ow- 
ing to  the  scarcity  of  money,  the  ministers  and  school- 
masters were  not  paid.  Colonel  Obertraut  took  com- 
mand of  the  Palatinate  army,  but  General  Tilly,  the 
Austrian  general,  soon  appeared  in  the  land  with  a 
large  army.  For  a  very  brief  time  Elector  Freder- 
ick V.  came  back  to  his  land,  but  he  soon  had  to  flee. 
His  neighbor  and  ally,  the  Margrave  of  Baden  Dur- 
lach,  was  defeated  at  Wimpfen  May  6,  1622.  Tilly 
soon  after  began  besieging  Heidelberg  and  stormed 
it  on  September  15,  1622.  That  day  the  cruel  Croa- 
tians  burst  into  the  city,  nun-dering  men  and  women, 

*NOTK.— For  a  fuller  account  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Reformation  during 
the  Thirty  Years'  War,  see  the  History  of  the  Reformed  Church  by  Rev,  James 
I  Good,  D.D.,  pages  9^144. 


GERMANY  39 

and  also  burning  it.  The  Reformed  professor  of  the- 
ology, Henry  Alting,  started  to  escape  through  a  back 
door  of  his  house,  when  he  was  met  by  an  Austrian 
soldier  who  said:  "With  this  club  I  have  killed  ten 
men  today.  If  I  knew  where  Professor  Alting  was, 
he  would  be  the  eleventh."  By  a  kind  providence 
his  life  was  spared.  But  the  castle  as  well  as  the 
city  scon  after  surrendered  to  the  Austrians.  Tilly 
having  captured  Heidelberg,  besieged  Manheim  (near 
Heidelberg)  which  surrendered  to  him.  He  also  at- 
tacked Frankenthal  (also  near  Heidelberg)  which 
bravely  resisted  him,  and  as  winter  was  approaching 
Tilly  gave  up  its  siege.  But  the  next  year,  Franken- 
thal was  basely  surrendered  by  the  King  of  England 
without  the  loss  of  a  drop  of  blood,  and  so  the  whole 
Palatinate  lay  at  the  mercy  of  its  cruel  conquerors. 
The  sufiferings  of  the  Reformed  became  terrible.  Their 
ministers,  250  in  number,  were  driven  away  (1623). 
The  new  elector  was  a  Catholic.  He  summoned  (May 
13,  1627)  all  the  citizens  of  Heidelberg  to  the  city  hall 
and  commanded  them  all  to  become  Catholics.  They 
absolutely  refused  to  do  so,  whole  trades  declaring 
that  they  would  give  up  property  and  everything  rath- 
er than  give  up  their  Reformed  faith.  When  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  made  his  victorious  campaign 
through  Germany  (1630-1)  there  was  a  slight  lull  in 
their  persecutions,  but  after  his  death  their  sufferings 
became  ten  times  worse.  Heidelberg,  which  had  been 
captured  by  the  Swedes  (1633)  was  now  again  recap- 
tured by  the  Bavarians  (1635).  The  whole  country 
was  ravaged  by  marauding  companies  of  troops  of 
both  armies,  plundering  and  killing  the  people.  Fam- 
ine and  pestilence  came,  one  after  the  other,  until 
(1636)  there  were  only  200  farmers  in  all  the  rich  Palati- 


40  GERMANY 

nate,  while  around  Heidelberg  there  were  more 
wolves  than  men.  The  neighboring  Reformed  dis- 
trict of  Zweibrucken  on  the  south  and  Nassau  further 
north,  also  suffered  very  severely  during  this  war. 
"When  the  enemy  had  marched  through,  it  looked," 
said  a  minister,  "as  if  Lucifer  or  Beelzebub  had  passed 
by."  Houses  were  deserted,  villages  lay  in  ruins,  the 
fields  were  covered  with  weeds  and  lay  uncultivated 
for  years.  The  Reformed  districts  of  Nassau  were 
also  terribly  devastated  and  Hesse  Cassel,  (also  Re- 
formed) was  partly  overrun  by  the  enemy,  but  by  its 
bravery  and  especially  by  the  heroism  of  its  ruler,  the 
Landgravine  Amalie,  it  suffered  less,  although  the  Re- 
formed ministers  were  driven  out  of  parts  of  her  land. 
During  this  terrible  war  it  seemed  as  if  the  Reformed 
districts  were  the  ones  that  especially  suffered.  Her 
universities  of  Heidelberg  and  Marburg  were  closed, 
and  those  of  Herborn  and  Frankford  on  the  Oder  suf- 
fered severely. 

But  although  the  war  cost  the  Reformed  so  much, 
yet  they  gained  more  than  it  cost.  Their  religion  was 
now  recognized  by  law.  This  was  mainly  gained 
through  the  efforts  of  the  Princess  Amalie  of  Hesse 
Cassel,  and  the  young  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  Fred- 
erick William,  whose  wife,  Electress  Louisa  Henrietta, 
was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  Reformed  princesses, 
and  the  authoress  of  the  famous  hymn,  "Jesu  Meine 
Zuversicht"  ("Jesus  My  Eternal  Trust").  For  when 
the  peace  of  Prague  in  1635  threatened  to  close  the 
war  without  recognizing  the  Reformed,  Amalie  re- 
fused to  sign  it  and  joined  herself  with  Sweden  and 
France  to  gain  their  rights.  When  the  negotiations 
began,  which  closed  the  war.  Elector  Frederick  Wil- 
liam aided  her  efforts,  so  that  the  war  closed  with 


GERMANY  41 

honor  to  the  Reformed,  as  tliey  were  recognized  by 
name  in  the  Treaty  of  WestphaHa.  And  when  the  war 
was  over,  the  Reformed  rehgion  revived  again  and 
rose  Phoenix-hkc  from  its  ashes.  The  Palatinate  and 
Nassau  districts  began  to  bloom  again;  Hesse  return- 
ed to  greater  power  than  ever,  and  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  became  the  great  leader  and  defender  of 
the  Reformed.  Thus  the  Reformed,  having  spread 
through  a  large  part  of  Germany's  territory,  never 
stopped  until  they  were  included  in  the  laws  and  trea- 
ties of  Germany  also. 

SECTION  III. 

^be  ipersecutions  in  tbc  ipalatlnatc* 

For  nearly  a  half  a  century  after  the  awful  Thirty 
Years'  War,  the  Reformed  of  Germany  had  peace. 
Then  came  more  terrible  persecutions  than  ever.  Two 
events  united  to  bring  this  about.  One  was  the  death 
of  the  last  Reformed  Elector  of  the  Palatinate,  Charles, 
in  1685.  After  that  its  rulers,  until  this  century,  were 
Catholics.  The  other  was  the  French  wars  (1688- 
1695).  The  King  of  France,  Louis  XIV.,  laid  claim 
to  the  Palatinate  after  the  death  of  the  Elector  Charles, 
because  his  brother  had  married  Princess  "Lize  Lotte," 
a  Palatinate  princess.  And  suddenly,  without  a  mo- 
ment's warning,  he  precipitated  an  army  of  80,000  sol- 
diers into  the  Palatinate  in  the  fall  of  1688.  In  seven 
weeks  he  had  changed  that  fertile  land  into  a  desert. 
On  October  25,  Heidelberg  surrendered  to  his  armies. 
Then  an  idea  struck  his  mind  more  w^orthy  of  a  barba- 
rian than  of  a  Christian  king.  "Ravage  the  Palati- 
nate" was  his  command,  and  the  awful  work  was  be- 


*NOTE.— Fora  full  nccount  of  the  awful  sufferings  of  tlie  Reformed  in  the 
Palatinate  see  the  History  of  the  Reformed  Church  hy  Rev.  James  I.  Good. 
D.D.,  pages  225-307. 


42  GERMANY 

gun.  Not  Attila,  "the  scourge  of  Europe,"  did  such 
awful  work  more  thoroughly.  On  January  i8,  1689, 
the  ravage  began.  From  the  walls  of  Heidelberg  could 
be  seen  in  all  directions  the  flames  of  burning  villages. 
The  children  of  the  Reformed  Orphanage  at  Hand- 
schuheim,  near  Heidelberg,  had  to  flee  almost  naked 
over  the  snow  to  the  neighboring  village  of  Schonau, 
and  two  of  them  were  frozen  to  death  in  the  snow.  The 
French  shut  up  the  almost  naked  magistrates  of  that 
town  in  the  church  in  the  bitterest  cold  for  three  days. 
This  ravage  was  completed  by  the  baptism  of  fire  for 
Heidelberg  herself.  On  March  2,  1689,  the  city  was 
fired  and  the  beautiful  castle,  which  it  had  taken  six 
centuries  to  build,  was  blown  up  in  a  single  morning. 
The  city  was  then  fired  at  many  places.  The  French 
General,  Melac,  sat  on  his  horse  in  the  central  square 
of  the  town,  laughing,  like  Nero  at  Rome,  at  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  inhabitants.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  pity 
of  some  of  the  lower  French  officers,  like  de  Tesse,  the 
whole  city  would  have  been  destroyed;  but  they  se- 
cretly allowed  the  people  to  put  damp  straw  in  their 
windows,  which,  when  burning,  produced  a  great 
smoke,  so  that  it  looked  as  if  the  house  was  rapidly 
burning,  although  it  did  little  damage.  At  Manheim 
the  French  sO'  utterly  destroyed  the  city,  that  in  the 
rubbish  the  streets  could  not  be  deciphered.  Thus 
twelve  hundred  villages  and  towns  were  destroyed  by 
the  French,  and  40,000  inhabitants  rendered  homeless 
in  mid-winter.  Many  of  the  Reformed  Churches  were 
utterly  destroyed,  especially  west  of  the  Rhine.  Often 
the  Reformed  children,  because  they  would  not  go  to 
Catholic  Church,  were  beaten  with  rods  or  were  some- 
times driven  into  the  woods  in  winter,  where  some  of 
them  perished. 


GERMANY  43 

But  the  cup  of  the  Palatinate  was  not  yet  full.  In 
1693  the  French  king  sent  another  army  into  the  Pala- 
tinate, to  complete  what  had  been  left  undone  in  the 
previous  terrible  invasion.  In  May  they  approached 
Heidelberg.  Its  conmiander  treacherously  surrender- 
ed. The  poor  Reformed  people  were  then  driven  by 
the  soldiers  into  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  until  it 
was  packed  so  full  that  they  were  huddled  together 
like  sheep  in  a  pen.  Then  the  French  locked  the  door 
and  set  the  church  roof  and  steeple  on  fire.  Such  a 
wailing  arose  from  the  Reformed  within  (who  expect- 
ed to  be  burned  up  in  an  awful  holocaust),  that  "it  was 
enough,"  said  an  eye  witness,  "to  make  a  stone  weep."' 
But  this  produced  no  effect  on  the  hearts  of  the  enemy, 
harder  than  stone.  When  the  steeple  was  in  flames  and 
the  bells  threatened  to  fall,  then  the  French  opened  the 
doors  and  left  them  out;  but  some  of  them  had  already 
died  of  fright  in  the  church.  Then  the  French  drove 
them  into  a  neighboring  square,  where  their  sufferings 
were  worse  than  death.  The  city  was  so  destroyed  by 
this  attack  of  the  French  that  it  was  little  else  than  a 
mass  of  rubbish.  Almost  the  only  thing  that  remained 
were  the  churches,  and  of  these  sometimes  only  the 
walls  were  standing. 

But  the  greatest  sufferer  of  all  was  the  Reformed 
Church,  One  hundred  Reformed  churches,  mainly 
west  of  the  Rhine,  were  in  the  hands  of  Catholics. 
Two  hundred  Reformed  ministers  and  school-masters 
were  driven  out.  The  few  who  remained  had  such 
large  parishes,  or  were  so  persecuted,  that  they  could 
hardly  attend  to  their  duties.  To  Professor  J.  L.  Fa- 
bricius,  of  Heidelberg,  probably  belongs  the  honor  of 
sa\  ing  our  Church,  so  that  it  was  not  utterly  destroyed. 
He  sacrificed  everything  for  her  and  went  to  other 


44  GERMANY 

lands  raising  money  for  her.  The  Reformed  minister 
of  Manheim,  Schmidmann,  did  not  desert  his  congre- 
gation even  when  the  town  was  utterly  destroyed.  He 
preached  in  its  ruins,  and  divided  his  last  crust  of 
bread  with  his  starving  Reformed  people.  In  1697 
these  terrible  sufferings  of  the  Reformed  were  finally 
brought  to  an  end  by  the  peace  of  Ryswick. 

But,  although  the  persecutions  of  war  were  over, 
those  of  peace  remained;  and  sometimes  the  persecu- 
tions of  peace  are  more  trying  than  those  of  war.  Now 
the  great  enemy  of  the  Reformed  was  not  foreigners 
like  the  French,  but  their  own  ruler,  the  Elector  of  the 
Palatinate,  who  was  a  Catholic.  These  Electors  began 
to  take  away,  one  after  the  other,  the  liberties  of  their 
Reformed  subjects.  They  first  took  possession  of  the 
Reformed  cemeteries,  then  rang  their  bells  for  Cath- 
olic festival  days,  and  finally  took  their  churches  for 
Catholic  services.  In  vain  did  the  Reformed  protest. 
The  Government  kept  back  the  salaries  of  the  Reform- 
ed ministers  and  school-masters.  Often  when  the 
Catholic  "host''  was  carried  through  the  streets,  the 
Reformed  would  be  compelled  to  kneel  before  it.  In 
many  places  they  were  forbidden  to  work  on  Catholic 
feast  days.  Finding  that  their  protests  were  unheard 
by  the  Elector,  the  Reformed  appealed  to  the  Evan- 
gelical States  of  Germany.  These  princes  of  the  em- 
pire then  took  up  the  matter.  Finding  that  protests 
were  in  vain,  they  began  to  retaliate  on  the  Catholics 
in  their  countries.  The  Kings  of  Prussia  and  England 
and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  closed  up  some  Catholic 
Churches  in  their  lands  until  the  Reformed  of  the 
Palatinate  had  their  churches  returned  to  them.  This 
finally  brought  matters  to  a  crisis,  and  on  November 
21,  1705,  the  Elector  again  granted  the  Reformed  their 
rights. 


GERMANY  45 

But  they  were  not  to  have  peace  and  toleration  long. 
For  a  new  Elector,  who  had  been  more  bigotedly 
trained  than  any  before,  ascended  the  throne.  Soon 
after  he  became  Elector,  the  Jesuits  adroitly  called  his 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Heidelberg  Catechism, 
which  was  issued  with  his  coat-of-arms  on  the  front 
page,  had  in  it  the  eightieth  question,  which  says  that 
"the  mass  is  an  accursed  idolatry."  In  rage  he  order- 
ed the  use  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  to  be  stopped, 
and  thus  our  forefathers  would  have  been  without  a 
creed.  The  Reformed  professors  at  Heidelberg,  Mieg 
and  Kirchmeyer,  defended  their  Catechism,  saying 
that  it  had  been  in  use  for  a  century  and  a  half,  and  no 
one  had  objected  before.  And  even  under  Catholic 
rulers  it  had  been  used  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and 
yet  not  one  of  them  had  objected  to  it.  But  the  Elec- 
tor,  instead  of  receding  from  his  position,  advanced  to 
greater  persecutions.  On  August  29,  1719,  he  sum- 
moned the  Reformed  consistory  to  him  and  demanded 
of  them  to  give  up  to  him  their  largest  church  in  Hei- 
delberg, the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  As  they  did 
not  do  this  by  September  4,  although  the  Reformed 
had  locked  the  church  and  barricaded  it,  the  Catholics 
forced  an  entrance  into  it  through  the  tower  and  forci- 
bly took  possession.  The  division  wall  in  it,  which 
had  separated  the  choir,  where  the  Catholics  had  wor- 
shipped, from  the  nave,  where  the  Reformed  had  wor- 
shipped, was  broken  down,  and  the  Catholics  took 
possession  of  the  whole  church.  At  the  same  time  the 
other  Reformed  Churches  were  again  taken  possession 
of  by  the  Catholics.  As  the  Reformed  could  not  wor- 
ship in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  during  that  fall 
and  winter  they  worshipped  in  the  cold  and  storm  in 
an  open  square  near  the  eastern  end  of  Heidelberg, 


46  GERMANY 

called  "the  monks'  court."  The  Reformed  now  be- 
.came  greatly  alarmed.  They  appealed  again  to  the 
Evangelical  States  of  Germany  to  aid  them.  These 
had  already  found  that  the  only  way  to  deal  success- 
fully with  the  Elector  was  to  retaliate.  So  the  Kings 
of  Prussia  and  England  and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse 
Cassel  closed  several  Catholic  Churches  in  their  lands 
until  the  Catholics  would  return  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  the  Reformed.  The  Elector  became 
very  angry  at  this.  He  declared  that  if  he  were  ever 
compelled  to  give  back  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  the  Reformed,  he  would  forever  leave  Heidelberg 
and  make  Manheim  his  capital  instead;  that  he  would 
shake  the  dust  of  Heidelberg  ofif  of  his  feet  and  let  it 
become  like  an  ordinary  countr}'  village,  instead  of  his 
beautiful  capital.  Finally,  on  February  29,  1720,  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  order  of  the  Emperor, 
was  given  back  to  the  Reformed,  and  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  was  also  again  allowed  (1721)  to  be  used  by 
the  Reformed,  although  it  was  no  longer  printed  with 
the  Elector's  coat-of-arms  on  the  title  page  as  before. 
But  the  Elector  in  anger  forsook  Heidelberg,  which 
had  been  the  capital  of  his  land  for  centuries,  and  re- 
moved to  Manheim,  where  he  built  a  new  capital.  The 
Reformed  received  back  their  churches  and  their 
rights;  yet  very  often,  owing  to  their  lack  of  money, 
they  were  not  able  to  rebuild  their  churches. 

About  1750,  the  Elector,  having  failed  to  destroy  the 
Reformed  by  persecutions,  now  tried  to  do  so  by  cor- 
ruption. He  enlarged  the  church-court,  which  gov- 
erned the  Reformed,  and  introduced  men  into  it  who 
were  corrupt  and  who  would  take  bribes.  Thus  they 
practised  simony  or  the  sale  of  places  (pastorates, 
school  teachers'  positions,  etc.,)  for  money.     Against 


GERMANY  47 

this  abuse  the  Reformed  ministers  nobly  protested. 
Then  the  Elector  in  anger  forbade  them  any  longer  to 
hold  the  meetings  of  their  classes.  They  again  ap 
pealed  to  the  Evangelical  States  of  Germany,  but  by 
this  time  its  princes  had  either  grown  weary  or  care- 
less, and  there  was  now  no  one  to  look  after  their  case. 
So  for  34  years  (175 5- 1789)  no  synods  were  held. 
Finally,  in  1799,  they  were  again  allowed  religious  lib- 
erty under  the  last  Catholic  Elector,  Max  Joseph,  and 
in  1802  they  again  came  under  the  control  of  a  Pro- 
testant prince,  the  Lutheran  Duke  of  Baden.  It  is  a 
wonder  that,  after  almost  two  centuries  of  persecution 
(1618-1800),  there  was  any  Reformed  Church  left  in 
the  Palatinate,  but  in  1783  there  were  240  Reformed 
parishes  and  140,000  members  in  that  land.  These 
persecutions  explain  why  our  forefathers  came  to 
America. 


CHAPTER  III. 


^be  Coetus.* 

SECTION    I. 

aseforc  tbe  Coetus. 

UT  Europe  was  too  small  a  continent  tO'  con- 
tain the  Reformed  Church;  she  spread  to 
other  continents.  Africa,  Asia,  and,  too, 
our  America  received  her.  The  Middle 
Ages  saw  the  Crusades,  those  marching  ar- 
mies going  eastward  to  rescue  the  Holy  Land  from  the 
power  of  the  infidel  Moslem.  The  last  two  centuries 
saw  another  crusade,  not  eastward  but  westward,  not 
of  war,  but  of  peace,  as  thousands  sailed  from  the  old 
world  to  capture  the  new  world  of  America  for  Christ. 
A  voyage  across  the  ocean  in  those  days  was  a  danger- 
ous one.  It  was  long,  and  in  it,  storms,  sickness,  per- 
haps shipwreck  awaited  them.  (Thus  of  the  4,000  sent 
by  Queen  Ann  in  1709,  1,700  died  either  on,  or  from 
the  effects  of  the  voyage).  And  even  after  our  fore- 
fathers landed,  there  was  danger  of  sickness  so  com- 
mon to  new  land  and  the  greater  danger  of  death  from 
the  Indians. 

Why  then  did  our  ancestors  come  to  this  western 
world  in  the  face  of  so  many  dangers?  Because  they 
felt  that  there  were  greater  dangers  behind  them  in  the 
old  world  than  those  before  them  in  America.f    And 


*  Note.— A  sort  of  synod  having  less  Independent  powers  than  the  synod. 

t  Note.— For  a  full  description  of  the  per.secutions  of  our  forefathers,  the 
only  full  description  in  English,  see  History  of  the  Reformed  Church,  hy  Rev. 
James  I.  Oood,  D.D. 


50  THE  COETUS 

they  expected  to  get  here  what  they  did  not  have  in 
Europe,  peace  and  freedom  to  worship  God  according 
to  their  beloved  Reformed  faith.  The  causes  of  this 
emigration  are  given  in  a  Memorial  published  in  1554. 
"Some  of  them  fled  from  the  severe  persecution  to 
which  they  had  been  exposed  at  home  on  account  of 
their  being  Protestants,  others  from  the  oppression  of 
civil  tyranny  and  attracted  by  the  pleasant  hope  of 
liberty  under  the  milder  influence  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment, others  were  drawn  by  the  solicitations  of 
their  countrymen  who  had  settled  there  before  them, 
but  far  the  greatest  part  by  the  prospect  they  had  of 
relieving  themselves  under  the  deep  poverty  and  pro- 
viding better  for  themselves  and  their  families."  The 
last  point,  however,  is  emphasized  all  through  this 
Memorial  too  strongly,  as  the  Germans  were  not  so 
poor  or  illiterate  as  it  makes  them  out  to  be.  But 
these  were  the  reasons  why  the  Germans  came  in  such 
numbers  that  soon  there  were  30,000  of  them  in  Penn- 
sylvania (15,000  Reformed)  in  173 1,  and  the  British 
became  alarmed  lest  Pennsylvania  would  become  a 
German  rather  than  an  English  colony. 

They  began  coming  in  the  latter  part  of  the  17th  cen- 
tury. Peter  Minuit,  the  first  governor  of  New  Am- 
sterdam (New  York),  who  was  a  deacon  in  the  Re- 
formed Church  of  Wesel,  Germany,  and  afterwards 
an  elder  of  the  Reformed  Church  at  New  Amsterdam 
(New  York),  came  earlier  (1626).  Later,  in  1638,  he 
founded  the  first  Swedish  colony  in  Delaware,  where 
a  Dutch  Reformed  Church  was  founded  at  New  Castle, 
but  given  up.*  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  end  of 
that  century  that  the  Germans  began  coming  in  such 


*NOTK.— See  Peter  Minuit'a  Memorial  by  Kev.  C.  Cort,  D.D.,  and  Reformed 
Church  Magazine.      Reading,  December,  1893. 


THE  COETUS  51 

large  numbers  as  to  form  congregations.  Many  of 
them  settled  near  Philadelphia,  in  a  town  which  re- 
ceived its  name  from  them,  Germantown.  But  as 
most  of  them  were  farmers  and  the  most  desirable 
farms  in  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia  had  already- 
been  taken  by  the  Quakers,  they  pushed  out  further 
into  the  wilderness  and  began  settling  Montgomery 
and  Bucks  counties.  At  first  they  had  no  regular  pas- 
tors but  sometimes  would  employ  a  pious  school  mas- 
ter who  would  read  sermons  to^  them  or  they  would 
appoint  one  of  their  own  number  to  hold  such  a  ser- 
vice, and  thus  they  would  worship  God  as  best  they 
could.  The  first  Reformed  minister  in  Pennsylvania, 
Samuel  Guldin,  seems  to  have  come  before  1718.*  But 
although  he  preached  as  occasion  offered  (Boehm  says 
he  occasionally  preached  in  the  Reformed  Church  at 
Germantown)  he  never  attempted  to  organize  the  Re- 
formed congregations.  His  only  attempt  was  a  book, 
published  in  1743,  in  which,  although  he  had  been  a 
Pietist  at  Bern,  Switzerland,  he  wrote  against  the  re- 
ligious movement  which  arose  under  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf  in  Pennsylvania.  It  was  left  for  an  unordained 
but  pious  schoolmaster,  John  Philip  Boehm,  to  found 
our  Church.  This  he  did  in  1725,  when  the  Reformed 
people  living  in  Skippach,  Falkner  Swamp,  and 
White  Marsh,  north  of  Philadelphia,  asked  him  to  be- 
come their  minister.  He  consented  and  at  their  first 
communion,  in  1725,  there  were  loi  communicants  at 
the  three  places  mentioned.  He  proposed  to  them  a 
Church  Constitution,  which  they  adopted  and  which 
organized  them  after  the  Reformed  custom,  by  having 
a  consistory  of  regularly  elected  elders  and  deacons. 
On  September  21,  1727,  Rev.  George  Michael  Weiss 


*NOTE.— See  Prof.  Dubbs  in  Heffjrined  Churcb  Quarterly,  July,  18'.t2. 


52  THE  COETUS 

arrived  at  Philadelphia  with  a  colony  of  Germans  and 
became  pastor  of  the  first  German  Reformed  Church 
of  Philadelphia.  The  coming  of  a  regularly  ordained 
minister  like  Weiss  led  some  of  Boehm's  people  to  be- 
gin to  oppose  him,  as  he  had  never  been  ordained,  so 
he  applied  to  the  Reformed  Classis  of  New  York, 
which  was  ordered  by  the  Church  of  Holland  to  ordain 
him,  which  they  did  November  23,  1729.  Then  Rev. 
Mr.  Weiss,  seeing  the  great  need  of  funds  to  carry  on 
the  work  among  the  German  Reformed  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, went  back  to  Europe  (1730)  to  raise  money  for 
them,  leaving  the  Philadelphia  Church  in  the  care  of 
Boehm.  This  lone  man  seemed  destined  to  be  the 
strong  tower — the  pioneer  of  the  Reformed  in  this 
country  and  her  defender  against  all  storms  and  dan- 
gers. Rev.  Mr.  Weiss  returned  the  next  year,  but 
without  money.*  Then  Mr.  Weiss  left  Pennsylvania 
and  settled  at  Rhinebeck,  N.  Y.  So  Boehm  was  left 
almost  alone  to  minister  to  the  Pennsylvania  churches 
for  15  years.  It  is  true,  a  few  ministers  arrived  to  aid 
him,  such  as  Goetshy,  Dorstius  and  Rieger.  Little, 
however,  is  known  of  them.  But  the  weight  of  the 
care  of  the  widening  territory  of  the  Reformed  rested 
mainly  on  Boehm's  shoulders.  Gradually  these  set- 
tlements of  the  Germans  spread  out  into  the  wilder- 
ness beyond  Montgomery  and  Bucks  counties  into 
Berks,  Lehigh,  Lebanon  and  Lancaster  counties.  A 
call  came  to  Boehm  to  come  to  Conestoga,  near  Lan- 
caster and  administer  the  communion,  which  he  did, 
Oct.  14,  1727,  to  59  members;  also  from  Tulpehocken, 
near  Lebanon,  where  he  administered  the  communion 
October  18,  1727,  to  32  communicants.     Twice  every 


*N0TK.— For  his  companion,  Mr.  Reiff,  Icopt  it  for  a  number  of  years  until 
Rev.  Mr.  Schlatter  came,  when  a  settlement  was  made. 


THE  COETUS  53 

year  after  that,  this  faithful  servant  of  God  would  go  to 
these  outlying-  districts  and  administer  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per to  them  until  finally  Goetshy  came  to  his  assist- 
ance for  a  time  and  went  to  Goshenhoppen,  and  Rie- 
ger  at  last  went  to  Conestoga.  Boehm  was  a  sort  of  an 
overseer  of  the  Reformed  of  Pennsylvania.  His 
territory  extended  from  Egypt,  near  Allentown,  west 
to  Tulpehocken  and  Lancaster  and  south  to  Philadel- 
phia. Plis  consecration  to  this  arduous  work  is  shown 
by  his  death,  for  it  was  while  on  a  long,  hard  journey 
to  the  Egypt  congregation,  near  Allentown,  that  he 
died,  April  29,  1749.  He  may  well  be  called  the 
founder  of  the  German  Reformed  congregations  in 
Pennsylvania. 

He  was  her  defender  too.  For  at  this  time  she 
passed  through  a  severe  storm  that  strained  her  to  the 
utmost.  As  there  were  so  few  ministers  there  was 
danger  of  our  people  being  carried  away  to  other  de- 
nominations or  led  away  by  any  one  who  came  along 
and  claimed  to  be  a  minister.  As  early  as  1736  an 
inspirationist  named  Gruber  had  begun  a  fanatical 
movement,  but  it  was  the  coming  of  Count  Zinzendorf, 
the  great  Moravian  bishop (i 741), that  gave  a  power  to 
this  movement.  By  his  influence  he  carried  a  number 
of  our  people  over  to  the  Moravians.  Now  the  Mora- 
vian Church  was  in  the  last  century  a  splendid  witness 
for  the  truth  against  the  rationalists  of  Germany,  but 
she  was  charged  by  the  other  Churches  with  prose- 
lyting. She  had,  however,  a  policy  of  gathering  all 
earnest  believers,  no  matter  of  what  denomination, 
into  circles  called  Tropes.  The  members  of  these 
could  then  semi-of^cially  belong  to  the  Mora- 
vians, although  still  remaining  in  their  own  denomina- 
tions.    Zinzendorf  attempted  such  a  union  movement 


54  THE  COETUS 

of  Lutherans,  Reformed  and  Moravians  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, when  he  arrived.  He  could  do  this  the  better  be- 
cause the  Moravians,  like  the  Lutherans,  held  to  the 
Augsburg  Confession;  while  the  Reformed  would  be 
attached  to  him  by  the  fact  that  he  had  been  ordained 
by  a  Reformed  minister,  Jablonsky,  the  court  preacher 
of  Berlin,  who  at  the  same  time  was  a  Moravian 
bishop.  So  he  began  to  organize  a  movement  called 
"The  Congregation  of  God  in  the  Spirit,"  composed 
of  all  these  different  religious  elements.  From  Jan- 
uary, 1742,  to  June  of  that  year,  these  held  six  Synods, 
and  at  the  seventh,  in  August  of  that  year,  this  "Con- 
gregation of  God  in  the  Spirit"  was  founded.  Quite 
a  number  of  the  Reformed  went  into  the  movement. 
Already  John  Peter  Miller,  the  pastor  of  the  Reformed 
Church  at  Tulpehocken,  had  joined  the  Seventh  Day 
Baptists  (1735)  at  Ephrata.  And  now  Henry  Antes, 
the  prominent  Elder  of  Falkner  Schwamp,  John  Bech- 
tel,  John  Brandmuller,  Christian  Henry  Rauch  and 
Jacob  Lischy  went  into  the  movement  and  were  or- 
dained by  Zinzendorf  as  ministers  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  this  Union,  The  man  who  rose  up  against 
this  movement  which  threatened  to  disorganize  the 
Reformed,  was  Boehm,  who  did  it  in  order  to  preserve 
the  Reformed  faith  and  organization  (for  Weiss  by 
this  time  was  in  New  York  State).  He  published  his 
"True  Letter  of  Warning,"  August  23,  1742,  ad- 
dressed to  the  Reformed  congregations  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, warning  the  Reformed  against  Zinzendorf's  ef- 
forts. It  was  signed  by  the  officers  of  the  six  congre- 
gations— Falkner  Swamp,  Skippach,  White  Marsh, 
Philadelphia,  Oley,  and  Tulpehocken.  On  May  19, 
1743,  he  published  another  attack  especially  directed 
against  Lischy,   Bechtel  and  Antes.     On  the  other 


THE  COETUS  •  55 

hand,  the  Reformed  who  were  in  "The  Congregation 
of  God  in  the  Spirit,"  claimed  that  they  were  also 
Reformed.  Bechtel  published  a  brief  Catechism 
based  on  the  Articles  of  Bern  of  1528.  They,  how- 
ever, claimed  to  be  lower  Calvinists  than  Boehm,  who 
held  to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  and  the  Canons  of 
Dort.  They  claimed  that  their  low  Calvinistic  views 
were  also  truly  German  Reformed,  because  they  had 
always  been  the  views  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
Brandenburg,  where  Jablonsky,  who  ordained  Zin- 
zendorf,  lived.  Their  claims  were  true,  and  yet,  like  so 
many  union  movements,  they  went  to  pieces  because 
theirs  was  made  up  of  such  different  elements.  The 
churchly  Lutherans  reacted  against  them,  especially 
as  Muhlenberg  had  arrived  from  Germany  to  organize 
them.  The  Moravians  themselves,  after  Zinzendorf 
left  America,  became  somewhat  more  churchly,  so 
that  Antes  rather  lost  interest  in  them  and  Lischy  left 
them.  The  Reformed  element  in  the  Union  either 
faded  out  or  was  absorbed  in  the  Moravian  Church. 
But  the  one  man  who  stood  against  them  like  a  tower 
through  the  storm  was  Boehm,  He  saved  the  Re- 
formed Church,  and  continued  her  historic  existence. 
Our  Church  should  ever  honor  him  as  the  defender 
as  well  as  the  founder  of  our  denomination. 

SECTION   II. 

Zbz  ©rganijatton  of  tbe  Coetus. 
If  Rev.  Mr.  Boehm  was  the  founder  of  our  Church, 
Rev.  Michael  Schlatter  was  the  organizer  of  it.  It 
was  a  glad  day  for  the  former  when  the  latter  arrived 
on  our  shores.  For  he  was  bowed  down  with  the 
weight  of  years  and  when  he  saw  Schlatter  coming  to 
take  the  work  ofT  his  shoulders  he  could  say,  like  Sim- 
con  of  old,  "Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart 


56-  THE  COETUS 

in  peace."  Rev.  Michael  Schlatter  was  bom  at  St. 
Gall,  in  northeastern  Switzerland,  July  14,  1716.  He 
studied  at  his  native  place  and  after  two  brief  assistant 
pastorates  in  Switzerland  he  went  to  Holland, 
where  he  was  appointed  by  the  deputies  of  the 
Synods  of  North  and  South  Holland,  May  23, 
1746,  to  go  to  America  and  organize  the  German 
churches  of  Pennsylvania.  On  Aug.  i,  1746,  he  ar- 
rived at  Boston,  and  on  September  6  of  that  year  he 
arrived  at  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  gladly  received 
by  the  Reformed  congregation.  As  soon  as  he  ar- 
rived he  began  his  missionary  journeys  which  were 
truly  surprising  in  their  length  and  continuance.  The 
day  after  he  arrived  at  Philadelphia  he  traveled  16 
miles  to  visit  Rev.  Mr.  Boehm,  and  the  next  day,  eight 
miles  further  to  meet  Mr.  Reifif  and  try  to  close  Reifif's 
accounts  with  the  Reformed  about  the  money  he  had 
collected  for  them  in  Europe  16  years  before.  The 
following  day  he  traveled  23  miles  back  to  Philadel- 
phia. The  next  week  he  visited  Rev.  Mr.  Dorstius, 
pastor  of  a  Dutch  Reformed  Church  in  Bucks  county. 
Pa.,  16  miles  from  Philadelphia.  The  week  following 
he  went  with  Rev.  Mr.  Weiss  over  the  mountains  to 
Oley,  Berks  county,  and  the  following  day  to  Lancas- 
ter to  meet  Rev.  Mr.  Rieger.  Meanwhile  Rev.  Mr. 
Boehm  had  gone  to  Tulpchocken,  where  on  Septem- 
ber 24,  Mr.  Schlatter  and  Mr.  Weiss,  after  traveling  29 
miles  the  previous  day,  also  arrived.  The  Reformed 
people  of  the  Tulpchocken  charge  on  Sunday,  Septem- 
ber 25,  wept  at  the  sight  of  three  Reformed  ministers 
together  in  the  pulpit, — a  sight  that  they  had  not  seen 
since  they  left  their  Reformed  Churches  in  the  Father- 
land. Mr.  Schlatter  invited  the  three  German  Re- 
formed ministers  and  Rev.  Mr.  Dorstius  to  a  confer- 


THE  COETUS  57 

ence,  October  12,  1746,  at  Philadelphia.  All  came 
but  the  latter,  who  sent  a  friendly  letter.  This  was  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Reformed  ministers  in  America. 
It  was  an  informal  meeting  for  conference.  No  or- 
ganization was  made  till  the  Coetus  was  organized 
next  year.  Then  Mr.  Schlatter,  like  the  Apostle  Paul, 
went  again  on  his  missionary  journeys,  so  that  he 
might  organize  the  Reformed  into  congregations  and 
find  out  how  many  of  these  would  be  willing  to  sup- 
port a  minister.  At  Providence,  October  18,  he 
preached  in  a  barn  and  in  the  afternoon  traveled  18 
miles  to  Goshenhoppen  to  see  Mr.  Weiss.  On  the 
20th  he  went  to  Indianfield,  and  by  the  22d  was  back 
again  at  Philadelphia.  On  November  4th  he  went  to 
New  Jersey,  33  miles.  But  during  the  winter,  owing 
to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather  and  the  roughness 
of  the  roads,  he  remained  in  Philadelphia,  organizing 
that  congregation  and  also  the  congregation  at  Ger- 
mantown.  But  as  soon  as  the  spring  opened,  he 
started  out  in  March  again  and  by  the  end  of  April,  in 
response  to  many  letters,  he  makes  a  journey  south- 
ward. On  May  2d,  1747,  he  arrived  at  Yorktown 
(York),  visiting  Conewago,  Monocacy,  and  returning 
to  Philadelphia  by  way  of  Lancaster,  May  14,  having 
traveled  homeward  88  miles.  On  June  10,  he  started 
on  an  extensive  trip  to  Seltenreich's  congregation, 
near  Lancaster,  Donegal,  Modencreek,  Cocalico  and 
Weiseichland,  where  he  found  a  pious  tailor  named 
Templeman.  had  been  preaching  to  the  people.  Then 
he  went  to  Tulpehocken,  and  eastward  to  Manatawny, 
Magunschy,  Egypt  and  Bethlehem,  where  he  met  with 
Jacob  Lischy,  who  had  been  fraternizing  with  the  Mo- 
ravians; but  who,  repenting  of  this,  now  agreed  to 
join  the  Reformed  Church.     He  returned  by  way  of 


58  THE  COETUS 

Sacony  and  Springfield  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  ar- 
rived July  3d. 

On  September  29th,  1747,  the  first  Coetus  of  our 
Church  was  held  at  Philadelphia.  Rev.  Messrs. 
Boehm,  Weiss,  Rieger  and  Schlatter  were  the  minis- 
ters present.  There  were  also  27  Elders  present  from 
the  congregations  in  Philadelphia,  Falkner  Swamp, 
Providence  and  Witpen,  Old  Goshenhoppen  and 
Great  Swamp,  Schafifer's  Church  and  Erlentown,  Tul- 
pehocken,  Indianfield,  Springfield,  Blue  Mountain  and 
Egypt,  Klein  Lechau  (Little  Lehigh),  Sacony,  and 
York, — 12  congregations  in  all.  Lancaster,  however, 
being  unrepresented  because  it  had  no  pastor.  The 
first  item  of  business  was  the  formal  reading  of  Mr. 
Schlatter's  instructions  from  the  Synods  of  Llolland, 
which  were  approved  by  the  Coetus.  Then  he  read 
his  journal,  in  which  he  detailed  his  travels  and  the 
results  of  his  attempts  to  organize  the  various  charges. 
The  Coetus  appointed  Mr.  Schlatter  to  make  a  report 
to  the  Synods  of  Holland  with  their  approval  and  to 
ask  for  more  ministers,  especially  for  Manakesy  Cani- 
ketschek  in  Maryland,  Schanador,  South  Branch,  Bo- 
tomic,  Lykens  Run  and  Germantown.  It  also  took 
action  in  regard  to  Mr.  Lischy  and  decided  that  the 
monies  collected  by  Rev.  Mr.  Boehm  in  New  York 
should  be  given  to  the  Church  in  Witpen  Township, 
Montgomery  County. 

In  the  fall  of  1747  Mr.  Schlatter  visited  York  and  also 
Western  New  Jersey.  In  the  spring  of  1748  he  made 
a  longer  tour,  going  as  far  as  Frederick,  Md.  Very 
interesting  are  his  notes.  "On  the  loth  of  May,  after 
we  had  gone  twenty  miles  farther,  we  took  our  dinner 
in  Fredcricktown,  in  Virginia.  On  this  road  we  met 
a  fearful  rattlesnake  seven  or  eig^ht  feet  loner  and  five 


THE  COETUS  59 

inches  thick  across  the  back.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  kinds  of  snakes.  Still  it  warns  the  traveler 
by  rattling  when  he  is  even  yet  twenty  steps  off,  so 
that  he  has  time  to  avoid  it."  "On  the  15th  of  May, 
I  preached  at  Fredericktown,  in  a  new  church  which 
is  not  yet  finished,  standing  behind  a  table  upon  which 
had  been  placed  the  holy  covenant  seals  of  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper.  When  I  was  preparing  myself 
for  the  first  prayer  and  saw  the  tears  of  the  spiritually 
hungry  souls  roll  down  their  cheeks,  my  heart  was 
singularly  moved  and  enkindled  with  love,  so  that  I 
fell  on  my  knees,  in  which  the  whole  congregation  fol- 
lowed me,  and  with  much  love  and  holy  desire  I  com- 
mended the  house  and  the  congregation  to  the  Triune 
God  and  wrestled  for  a  blessing  from  the  Lord  upon 
them."  He  returned  to  Philadelphia  by  May  19.  On 
September  29,  1748,  the  second  Coetus  was  held  at 
Philadelphia.  Rev.  Mr,  Weiss  was  absent,  but  three 
new  ministers  had  come  from  Europe, — Rev.  Messrs. 
Leydich,  Bartholomaus  and  Hochreutiner.  This  Coe- 
tus formally  adopted  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  and 
the  Canons  of  Dort  as  its  Creeds.  Rev.  Mr.  Schlatter 
continued  his  journeys  through  the  churches,  often 
preaching  day  after  day,  traveling  thousands  of  miles, 
and  organizing  the  churches.  The  Coetus  of  1749  met 
at  Lancaster, September  27th.  But  a  storm  was  gather- 
ing in  the  new  Coetus.  Rev.  Mr.  Steiner,  of  Switzerland, 
a  line  pulpit  orator,  had  arrived  at  Philadelphia  Sep- 
tember 25,  1749,  and  Coetus  held  a  special  meeting 
October  20th  of  that  year  to  receive  him.  He  was 
called  to  Lancaster,  but  delayed  his  going  and  soon  a 
party  was  formed  in  the  Philadelphia  congregation 
favorable  to  him  and  against  Mr.  Schlatter.  This  re- 
sulted in  a  division  in  the  congregation,  but  the  civil 


6o  THE  COETUS 

courts  decided  in  favor  of  the  Schlatter  party.  A  new 
congregation  was  then  formed,  of  which  Mr.  Steincr 
became  the  pastor  (175 1 -1752)  when  he  resigned  and 
afterward  Rev.  Mr.  Rubel  took  charge  of  the  congre- 
gation. But  the  Synods  of  Holland  decided  against 
Rubel  and  he  left  (1755).  Finally  the  new  congrega- 
tion went  back  into  the  old  church;  and  once  again 
united,  called  Rev.  Mr.  Steiner  (1759-1762). 

In  1 75 1  Rev.  Mr.  Schlatter  was  requested  by  the 
Coetus  to  go  to  Europe  to  get  money  and  ministers 
for  the  Pennsylvania  congregations,  who  were  as  scat- 
tered sheep,  having  no  shepherd.  He  visited  Holland, 
Germany  and  Switzerland,  and  created  a  great  interest 
in  the  Pennsylvania  churches.  Sixty  thousand  dollars 
was  collected  and  invested,  its  interest  being  paid  to 
the  Pennsylvania  Reformed  congregations.  He  stated 
that  there  were  30,000  Reformed  in  Pennsylvania  in 
46  congregations,  with  only  six  ministers  to  serve 
them.  He  also  refers  in  this  appeal  to  the  missionary 
work  of  Eliot  and  Brainard  among  the  Indians.  Even 
the  poor  Palatinate  Reformed  Church,  though  then 
struggling  for  its  very  existence  under  a  Catholic  rule, 
raised  three  hundred  dollars  for  the  fund  for  Pennsyl- 
vania. But  best  of  all,  Mr.  Schlatter  was  able  to  se- 
cure six  young  ministers  for  America,  with  whom  he 
arrived  in  Pennsylvania,  July  28,  1752.  It  now  looked 
as  if  the  German  churches  w^ere  to  be  placed  on  a 
firmer  footing,  but  a  new  difficulty  soon  confronted 
them.  One  of  the  things  that  was  expected  to  greatly 
aid  them  was  the  one  that  turned  out  to  their  injury. 
Mr.  Schlatter's  trip  to  Europe  created  so  much  inter- 
est that  Rev.  Mr.  Thompson,  pastor  of  the  English 
Reformed  congregation  at  Amsterdam,  went  to  Eng- 
land and  Scotland  and,  with  others,  raised  $100,000, 


THE  COETUS  6i 

to  establish  charity  schools  among  the  Germans  here. 
This  kindly  movement,  however,  soon  roused  great 
opposition  among  the  Germans,  which  was  led  es- 
pecially by  Saur,  the  publisher,  of  Germantown.  The 
English  circular  describing  the  scheme,  cast  serious 
reflections,  some  thought,  on  the  Germans  here,  for  il- 
literacy and  poverty  and  semi-heathenism.  Some  of 
them  suspected  it  was  an  effort  to  rob  them  of 
their  loved  German  language,  as  English  was  to  be 
taught  in  the  schools;  while  others  looked  on  it  as  an 
effort  to  secretly  introduce  the  Episcopal  Church 
among  the  Germans.  Rev.  Mr.  Schlatter,  by  request 
of  the  Trustees,  became  the  Superintendent  of  these 
charity  schools.  At  first  the  Coetus  stood  by  Mr. 
Schlatter  and  the  charity  schools,  and  suggested  two 
of  its  ministers.  Rev.  Messrs.  Otterbein  and  Stoy,  as 
persons  who  could  be  used  by  that  society,  but  by 
and  by  the  opposition  to  them  became  so  strong  that 
it  reacted  against  Mr.  Schlatter  too,  and  he  became 
very  unpopular  with  the  Germans.  About  the  same 
time  there  was  an  attack  on  him  in  the  Coetus  of  1756. 
In  1755  he  had  been  requested  by  the  Coetus  while  at- 
tending to  his  duties  as  superintendent  of  the  charity 
schools,  to  visit  and  organize  the  Reformed  congrega- 
tions as  he  came  in  contact  with  the  Reformed,  and 
inquire  into  their  condition.  He  was  also  asked  to 
write  in  the  name  of  the  Coetus  the  Coetus'  letter  to 
the  fathers  in  Holland.  In  this  he  seems  to  have  made 
use  of  some  expressions  which  some  of  the  Coetus  felt 
were  a  reflection  on  them.  They  criticized  him  se- 
verely for  transcending  his  authority.  Mr.  Schlatter 
therefore  felt  constrained  to  withdraw  from  the  Coe- 
tus. This  was  much  to  be  regretted,  both  for  his 
sake  and  for  the  sake  of  the  Coetus. 


62  THE  COETUS 

For  his  sake,  because  it  robbed  him  of  the  honor  of 
being  the  founder  of  our  Church.  He  was  its  organi- 
zer, and  had  he  stood  by  it  Hke  Boehm  to  the  end  of 
his  life,  all  its  future  history  would  have  redounded  to 
his  credit.  But  he  unfortunately  withdrew  from  it 
when  most  needed,  instead  of  quietly  waiting  for  the 
storm  to  blow  over,  when  he  could  have  regained  his 
influence. 

For  33  years  he  lived  at  Germantown  and  never  in 
all  those  years  attended  a  Coetus  meeting,  although 
he  occasionally,  it  is  said,  preached  in  Reformed 
churches.  When  the  Reformed  congregations  were 
crying  again  and  again  to  Europe  for  pastors,  it  seems 
sad  that  one  so  near  and  so  able  as  Mr.  Schlatter  was 
not  to  help  them.  Nevertheless,  he  did  a  remarkable 
work  in  the  few  years  that  he  was  in  the  Coetus.  Dur- 
ing the  ten  years  that  he  labored  for  it,  his  labors  were 
incessant.  He  gave  himself  no  rest,  riding  occasion- 
ally as  high  as  80  miles  a  day,  preaching  day  after  day, 
and  outdoing  other  ministers,  who  sometimes  tired  by 
the  way  and  had  to  stop.  In  all  he  traveled  more  than 
8,000  miles,  not  counting  his  travels  across  the  ocean 
to  Europe  and  back.  All  honor  to  him  and  his  in- 
dustry. 

But  it  was  equally  unfortunate  for  our  Church  as 
for  himself  that  he  did  not  remain  in  it.  Had  he,  with 
his  splendid  executive  ability,  remained  as  its  leader, 
our  Church  would  have  spread  far  and  wide  and  have 
been  organized  from  Maine — yes,  even  Nova  Scotia — in 
the  North,  to  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  in  the  South. 
But  although  he  left  the  Coetus,  faithful  men  remained 
in  it.  Boehm  was  now  dead  and  Weiss  was  old.  But 
Leydich,  Weiss,  Otterbein,  Stoy  and  others  remained 
to  bear  its  burden  and  do  its  work. 


THE  COETUS  -    63 

Mr.  Schlatter,  having  retired  from  the  Coetus,  be- 
came chaplain  in  the  British  army  and  was  at  the  siege 
of  Louisburg,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1757.  After  his  return 
he  lived  at  his  home  "Sweetland,"  Chestnut  Hill,  near 
Germantown.  During  the  Revolution  his  home  was 
attacked  and  plundered  by  the  British,  who  still  looked 
on  him  as  a  chaplain  of  their  army,  and  were  angry 
with  him  for  his  sympathy  with  the  American  cause. 
He  died  1790,  universally  respected,  and  having 
among  his  intimate  acquaintances  many  of  the  leading 
men  of  Pennsylvania. 

SECTION  III. 

THistor^  of  tbc  Coetus. 
Our  early  Reformed  Church  had  to  pass  through 
many  vicissitudes  before  it  was  permanently  founded 
and  could  spread  itself  through  our  Western  land. 
We  have  already  called  attention  to  some  of  the  dan- 
gers that  surrounded  it.  In  Boehm's  time  the  Mora- 
vian movement  threatened  to  undermine  it.  In  Schlat- 
ter's time  the  quarrel  concerning  Steiner  threatened 
to  divide  it.  As  an  ecclesiastical  body,  it  now  began 
growing  more  compact.  But  now,  instead  of  within 
the  Church,  political  dangers  outside  of  it  appeared. 
The  French  war  broke  out  and  some  of  the  border 
churches  suffered  a  good  deal  (1755).  Rev.  Mr.  Stoy 
vividly  describes  the  sufferings  of  the  Tulpehocken 
charge  from  the  Indians.  Wissler's  charge,  on  the 
Lehigh,  near  Allentown,  also  suffered.  But  although 
political  dangers  threatened  it,  the  Church  began  to 
increase  in  efificiency.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
some  of  her  best  ministers  began  to  arrive,  as  Alsentz, 
Gros,  Weyberg,  Bucher,  Henop,  Hendel,  Gobrecht, 
J.  E.  Faber,  Pomp,  and  later  Helffenstein  and  Helff- 


64  THE  COETUS 

rich.  The  Church  had  often  been  compelled  to  con- 
tend with  unworthy  men,  who  tried  to  become  pastors 
of  the  congregations  or  to  be  elected  into  the  Coetus, 
as  Pithan  at  Easton,  Berger  at  Reading,  and  later 
Spangenberg  at  Shamokin,  and  others.  Nobly  she 
tried  to  prevent  these  adventurers  from  entering  like 
wolves  into  her  fold  and  scattering  the  sheep.  Over 
against  these  she  began  rearing  her  own  ministry,  in 
addition  to  receiving  those  sent  from  Holland.  Wack, 
Wagner,  Weymer  and  others  she  trained  herself,  as 
they  studied  privately  under  Hendel,  Gros,  Weyberg, 
and  others. 

When  the  American  Revolution  broke  out,  the  Coe- 
tus had  spread  her  territory  beyond  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains on  the  north  and  westward  down  the  Cumber- 
land Valley  to  Frederick,  Hagerstown  and  Baltimore. 
The  Germans  pretty  generally  sympathized  with  the 
Americans  against  England,  although  there  were  some 
Tories  among  them.  One  minister,  Stahlschmidt,  re- 
veals the  awkward  position  of  some  of  our  ministers, 
in  his  book,  "A  Pilgrimage  by  Land  and  Sea."  He 
says:  'T  acted  with  extreme  caution,  so  as  not  to  give 
offence  to  the  Royalists  in  my  congregation  (near 
York),  but  v/here  such  a  party  spirit  reigns,  it  is  im- 
possible for  a  minister's  political  sentiments  to  remain 
long  concealed.  An  order  was  issued  by  the  Ameri- 
can government  to  march  against  the  enemy,  which 
produced  such  confusion  that  I  covdd  not  do  otherwise 
than  advise  them  to  yield  as  much  as  possible  to  pres- 
ent circumstances,  because  it  was  incumbent  upon  us 
to  be  obedient  to  the  existing  authorities  in  all  things 
not  contrary  to  conscience.  Those  who  vented  their 
rage  against  the  Congress  were  dissatisfied  with  me, 
especially  one  Royalist,  who  went  about  among  the 


THE  COETUS  65 

congregation  and  stirred  them  up  against  me.  The 
confusion  increasing  to  the  highest  pitch,  I  perceived 
it  was  best  to  resign  my  charge."  He  left  and  went 
back  to  Europe. 

But  many  of  the  Reformed  ministers  were  more  out- 
spoken patriots  than  Stahlschmidt.  We  have  not  yet 
found  any  action  taken  by  the  Coetus  in  favor  of  the 
Colonies  and  against  England.  Perhaps,  although 
most  of  the  ministers  were  patriots,  yet  they  did  not 
think  it  wise  to  mingle  politics  with  their  Coetus'  acts, 
especially  as  they  were  under  the  control  of  a  foreign 
Church  and  did  not  wish  to  implicate  Holland  or  com- 
plicate her  relations  to  England.  The  meetings  of  the 
Coetus  were  sometimes  interfered  with  by  the  war,  so 
that  in  1778  and  1780  there  was  no  meeting  held.  And 
although  almost  every  alternate  Coetus  was  held  in 
Philadelphia,  yet  after  1774  for  seven  years  no  meet- 
ing was  held  there.  Sometimes  owing  to  the  war,  the 
Philadelphia  and  Germantown  churches,  especially 
the  former,  would  be  cut  ofif  from  the  other  congrega- 
tions, and  the  White  Marsh,  Skippach  and  German- 
town  congregations  were  overrun  at  times  by  march- 
ing armies.  The  ministry  often  suffered  much  from 
non-payment  of  salaries,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of 
money  or  its  little  value.  Thus  Stahlschmidt,  of 
whom  we  spoke  above,  says  that  when  he  resigned  to 
go  away  to  Europe,  "there  were  thousands  of  dollars 
due  him  on  his  salary,  but  as  sixty  or  seventy  paper 
dollars  were  only  equivalent  to  one  silver  one,  he  could 
for  all  this  money  scarcely  procure  a  new  coat  for  him- 
self." On  the  Indian  borders,  especially  the  Lykens 
Valley,  there  were  many  dangers.  In  1779  the  minis- 
ters of  the  Coetus  were  so  much  impressed  by  the 
danger  and  uncertainty  around  them,  that  they  ap- 


66  THE  COETUS 

pointed  a  day  of  prayer  and  appointed  a  committee  to 
issue  a  call  to  the  people  for  prayer  to  God  for  guid- 
ance. At  the  end  of  the  war  the  Coetal  letter  to  the 
fathers  in  Holland  rejoices  that  the  war  is  over,  and 
pay  their  respects  to  Holland  by  congratulating  them- 
selves on  being  citizens  of  a  republic,  like  Holland. 

But  while  the  Coetus  itself  does  not  seem  to  have 
taken  any  political  action,  many  of  the  individual  min- 
isters did.  The  First  Reformed  Church  of  Philadel- 
phia was  known  for  the  sympathy  of  its  pastor,  Wey- 
berg,  and  its  people,  with  the  patriots.  When  a  mem- 
orial service  was  to  be  held  Feb.  19,  1776,  on  the  death 
of  General  Montgomery,  who  was  killed  in  the  attack 
on  Quebec,  the  Reformed  congregation  boldly  threw 
open  its  doors  for  that  meeting,  although  there  were 
many  Tories  about  and  it  was  somewhat  dangerous  to 
do  so.  Indeed  Dr.  Weyberg  dared,  even  when  the 
British  were  occupying  Philadelphia,  to  preach  such 
patriotic  sermons,  that  the  British  (fearing  he  would 
influence  the  Hessians,  many  of  whom  were  Reformed 
and  attended  his  German  services,  would  desert)  im- 
prisoned him.  When  the  British  departed  from  Phila- 
delphia and  the  congregation  again  regained  posses- 
sion of  their  church  (which  had  been  used  as  a  hos- 
pital by  the  British),  Dr.  Weyberg  took  the  significant 
text,  "O  God,  the  heathen  are  come  into  thine  inherit- 
ance.    Thy  holy  temple  have  they  defiled,"  Ps.  79:1. 

Dr.  Hendel  was  accustomed  to  go  over  the  Blue 
Mountains  north  of  Tulpehocken  to  preach  to  the  Re- 
formed in  the  Lykens  Valley.  His  sympathy  with  the 
patriots  was  so  well  known  that  this  trip  was  quite 
dangerous,  as  the  Indians  on  that  border  sympathized 
with  the  British.  So  a  delegation  of  the  Reformed 
would  come  armed  to  meet  him  at  the  entrance  of  the 


THE  COETUS  67 

valley  and  guard  him  to  the  church,  watch  while  he 
was  preaching,  and  act  as  his  bodyguard  on  the  jour- 
ney homeward  until  they  brought  him  back  safely  to 
the  Tulpehocken. 

Several  of  the  prominent  officers  of  the  Revolution 
were  members  of  the  Reformed  Church.  General 
Herkimer,  the  hero  of  Oriskany,  a  battle  in  New  York 
State,  was  a  German  Reformed,  and  General  Philip 
Schuyler  was  a  Dutch  Reformed.  Baron  Steuben  was 
also  a  member  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  New  York 
city.  He  created  a  great  furore  among  the  Germans 
here,  for  he  had  been  an  officer  in  the  famous  army  of 
Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia,  the  military  hero  of 
Europe,  He  came  to  our  land  to  bring  the  tactics,  that 
made  Frederick  victorious,  to  our  army  and  he  prob- 
ably saved  our  cause  by  his  military  drills.  "After  his 
coming,"  says  Lessing,  "the  army  was  drilled  and 
after  this  the  Continental  Congress  Regulars  were 
never  beaten  in  a  fair  fight.  Before  he  came  the 
American  soldier,  because  he  did  not  know  how  to 
use  the  bayonet,  had  lost  faith  in  it  as  a  piece  of  armor. 
The  only  use  of  it  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed 
had  been  to  roast  his  meat  with  it  over  the  fire.  Yet 
in  a  little  more  than  a  year  after  Baron  Steuben  came, 
an  American  column,  without  firing  a  gun,  stormed 
Stony  Point,  on  the  Hudson,  and  captured  it  after  one 
of  the  most  splendid  bayonet  charges  of  history." 

Nine  miles  west  of  Reading  is  one  of  the  oldest  Re- 
formed churches  in  Pennsylvania,  formerly  called  the 
Heidelberg,  now  called  the  Hain's  Church  (near  Wer- 
nersville).  It  had  over  its  door  the  inscription  placed 
there  by  its  first  builders  when  that  church  was  built 
(1766),  "All  who  go  in  and  out  must  be  true  to  the 
God  and  the  King."     After  the  war  was  over,  one  of 


68  THE  SYNOD 

its  builders  said  the  word  "king"  must  be  cut  out,  and 
the  word  "king"  was  cut  out,  and  so  the  inscription 
remains  mutilated  to  this  day,  a  silent  witness  to  the 
patriotism  of  the  members  of  that  church. 

Thus  the  Reformed  proved  faithful  to  the  American 
government.  After  the  war  was  over  the  Coetus  pre- 
sented General  Washington  (1789)  with  a  letter  of 
congratulation  when  he  was  elected  president.  Gen- 
eral Washington,  although  an  Episcopalian,  attended 
the  Reformed  church  at  Germantown  under  Dr.  Hen- 
del's  ministry,  and  rumor  has  it  that  he  communed 
there.  And  after  Washington's  death  the  Cincinnati 
Society,  founded  in  1783,  by  the  officers  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary army,  met  in  the  First  Reformed  church  of 
Philadelphia,  Feb.  22,  1800,  to  commemorate  his 
death. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


JUST  as  the  United  States  was  changed  from  a 
colony  to  an  independent  nation  by  the  RevoUi- 
tion,  so  our  Church  was  changed  from  the 
Coetus,  which  meant  dependence  on  the  Hol- 
land Church,  to  a  Synod,  which  meant  inde- 
pendence and  self-reliance.  And  just  as  our  great  na- 
tion had  grown  from  its  small  beginning  to  its  present 
greatness,  so  our  little  flock  of  Reformed  has  grown  to 
be  a  large  and  influential  denomination. 

SECTION   I. 

Iprogress  In  Spite  of  Dittlculttes. 

In  1792  the  members  of  the  Coetus  declared  their 
independence  of  the  Fathers  in  Holland,  and  in  1793 
adopted  their  new  constitution.  The  Coetus  was  no 
more — it  had  become  the  Synod.  Several  causes  led 
to  this  change.  One  was  that  communication  with 
Holland  had  been  exceedingly  difBcult,  especially  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  War.  Often  the  Coetus  had  to 
wait  for  months,  sometimes  for  years,  for  important  de- 
cisions by  theSynods  of  Holland  on  its  acts, and  some- 
times the  answer  never  came  from  Holland  because  it 
was  lost  at  sea.  Although  they  would  ordain  a  licen- 
tiate when  there  was  extreme  necessity,  yet  often  the 
young  man  would  have  to  wait  for  months  before  the 
Coetus  would  get  authority  from  Holland  to  do  so. 
This  caused  much  inconvenience  and  our  fathers  there- 
fore found  this  arrangement  too  clumsy  to  be  contin- 


70  THE  SYNOD 

ued.  Another  reason  was  that  our  Church  here  was  get- 
ting strong  enough  to  take  care  of  herself  and  did  not 
so  much  need  the  money  sent  from  Holland.  Per- 
haps one  fact  tended  more  than  any  other  to  cause  the 
ultimate  break.  It  was  the  founding  of  Franklin  Col- 
lege at  Lancaster  in  1787.  This  strengthened  a  feel- 
ing which  had  already  appeared  in  the  Coetus  as  early 
as  1782,  when  it  was  suggested  by  Rev.  Mr.  HellTrich. 
The  Coetus  then  requested  the  Synods  of  Holland  to 
establish  an  Academy  in  Pennsylvania  which  would 
prepare  its  ministers.  The  interest  in  this  movement 
was  so  great  that  Coetus  met  in  1787,  at  Lancaster,  so 
as  to  attend  the  opening  of  Franklin  College.  And 
although  Franklin  College  did  not  at  first  prosper, 
owing  to  lack  of  funds,  yet  the  feeling  grew  more  and 
more  decided  among  the  members  of  the  Coetus  that 
they  ought  to  be  free,  so  as  to  educate  their  own  min- 
isters in  America  and  not  be  compelled  to  wait  until 
either  they  were  sent  from  Holland  or  their  ordination 
was  ordered  from  Holland.  So  at  Easton,  in  1791, 
the  Coetus  took  action  that  it  had  the  right  to  ordain 
a  minister  without  asking  or  awaiting  for  permission 
to  do  so  from  the  Fathers  in  Holland.  In  1792,  it 
went  a  step  farther  toward  becoming  independent  by 
appointing  a  committee  to  draft  a  new  constitution, 
and  Rev.  Messrs.  Pomp  and  Blumer  were  appointed 
to  prepare  a  constitution,  not  for  a  Coetus  but  for  a 
Synod.  This  was  adopted  in  1793.  However,  al- 
though our  Fathers  thus  broke  away  from  the  Re- 
formed Church  of  Holland  a  century  ago,  we  should 
always  remember  with  great  gratitude  the  debt  we 
owe  to  them  for  aiding  our  infant  Church  for  almost  a 
half  a  century.  They  sent  many  ministers  and  paid 
their  salaries  and  also  the  salaries  of  many  school- 


THE  SYNOD  71 

masters  for  many  years.  They  also  very  patiently  lis- 
tened to  the  complaints  and  troubles  of  our  early  Coe- 
tus  and  wisely  decided  them,  all  the  while  fostering 
the  Church. 

So,  on  April  27,  1793,  the  first  Synod  of  our  Church 
met  at  Lancaster.  Thirteen  of  the  22  ministers  be- 
longing to  Coetus  were  present,  but  all  but  three 
sent  excuses  for  absence.  The  Synod  contained  178 
congregations  and  15,000  communicants.* 

The  Coetus  adopted  the  constitution  for  a  Synod 
prepared  by  Rev.  Messrs.  Hendel  and  Blumer  and  de- 
cided that  it  would  not  transmit  to  the  Fathers  in  Hol- 
land its  proceedings,  as  heretofore,  but  only  send  a 
letter.  This  act  completed  their  separation  from  the 
Mother  Church  of  Holland. 

But  our  Fathers  had  hardly  declared  their  independ- 
ency, when  serious  difficulties  began  to  appear.  The 
first  was  the  conflict  of  languages.  As  Germans,  they 
tenaciously  clung  to  their  beloved  mother-tongue,  yet 
the  English  language  kept  forcing  itself  more  and 
more  into  the  families,  so  that  English  preaching  was 
becoming  a  necessity.  Rev.  Casper  Wack,  as  early  as 
1782,  began  to  preach  English  in  addition  to  German 
in  his  congregations,  in  Western  New  Jersey,  near 
Easton.  Rev.  Dr.  Herman  soon  after  preached  reg- 
ularly in  English  at  Germantown.  But  it  was  in  the 
Philadelphia  congregation  that  the  strife  became  most 
bitter  in  regard  to  the  two  languages.  Again  and 
again  the  subject  was  carried  up  to  the  Synod  by  mem- 
bers of  this  church,  asking  that  the  preaching  in  Eng- 
lish be  stopped.  The  Synod  generally  tabled  the  mat- 
ter. But  finally  the  strife  became  so  bitter  that  it  led 
to  a  division  in  the  congregation  (18 17).     Gradually 


*  NoTB.— See  Dubbs'  Manual,  page 324. 


-j^.  THE  SYNOD 

the  English  language  was  introduced  into  many  of  the 
congregations,  but  very  often  some  of  the  congrega- 
tions waited  too  long,  until  they  had  forced  many  of 
their  young  people  into  other  denominations,  which 
was  a  great  injury  to  our  Church.  This  conflict  of 
languages  has  gradually  settled  itself  by  a  gradual 
change  to  English  as  circumstances  demand  it. 

The  other  difficulty  of  the  Church  was  the  lack  of 
ministers.  Formerly  she  had  depended  on  Holland  for 
them,  but  now  she  had  to  depend  on  herself.  But  as  she 
had  no  college  to  educate  them  or  money  to  found 
such  an  institution,  how  was  she  to  provide  herself 
with  ministers?  Individual  ministers  stepped  into  the 
breach  and  privately  prepared  many  young  men  for 
the  ministry.  Weyberg,  Gros,  Hendel  and  HelfTen- 
stein  had  done  this  under  the  Coetus.  This  was  con- 
tinued under  the  Synod  by  Samuel  Helfifenstein,  Her- 
man, Becker,  and  others.  Helfifenstein  is  said  to  have 
prepared  as  many  as  27  young  men  for  the  ministry. 
But  all  these  excellent  efforts  were  found  to  be  insuf- 
ficient. So,  in  1820,  the  Synod  at  Hagerstown 
adopted  a  plan  for  the  establishment  of  a  Theological 
Seminary.  It  elected  Rev.  Dr.  Milledoler,  of  New 
York,  as  its  professor  and  selected  Frederick,  Md.,  as 
its  location.  Alas,  their  expectations  were  soon 
doomed  to  disappointment.  Dr.  Milledoler,  after  de- 
liberating about  it  for  two  years,  finally  decided  to  de- 
cline the  call;  and  as  much  of  the  money  subscribed 
to  the  new  institution,  was  conditioned  on  his  accept- 
ance, it  never  came  into  the  treasury  of  the  Seminary. 
With  this  reverse  came  a  reaction  in  the  Church.  In 
some  parts  of  the  Church  ministers  and  people  reveal- 
ed an  opposition  to  the  Seminary.  These  looked  upon 
the  raising  of  so  much  money  as  an  unnecessai-y  extra- 


THE  SYNOD  73 

vagance,and  some  said  they  feared  tyranny  on  the  part 
of  the  Church.  Some,  too,  hke  Dr.  Herman,  objected 
to  the  location  of  the  Seminary  at  Frederick,  so  far 
southwest  of  the  centre  of  the  Church.  As  a  result 
of  this  opposition,  quite  a  number  of  ministers  and 
congregations  left  the  Synod  (1822)  and  formed  a  free 
Synod,  which  at  different  times  had  connected  with  it 
57  ministers  and  more  than  100  congregations*  This 
Free  Synod  lasted  for  fifteen  years  and  had  in  it  some 
of  our  most  influential  congregations  and  ministers, 
but  in  1837  it  returned  to  the  Synod.  In  the  mean- 
time the  Synod  went  on  trying  to  build  up  its  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  In  1823  it  elected  Rev.  Dr.  S.  Helf- 
fenstein  Professor  of  Theology,  but  he  declined.  In 
1824  it  elected  Rev.  Dr.  Lewis  Mayer  professor  and  at 
last  the  Seminary  was  opened  March  11,  1825,  at  Car- 
lisle. The  Church  having  once  begun  this  work,  went 
at  it  with  a  will.  In  1825  Rev.  James  R.  Reily  went 
to  Europe  to  solicit  money  and  books  for  it,  and 
brought  back  $6,669,  ^*^cl  5,000  books,  while  Rev.  J. 
C.  Beecher  collected  $10,000  for  its  endowment  in  this 
country.  The  Seminary  was,  however,  removed  to 
York  in  1829,  where  it  continued  till  1837,  Dr.  Mayer 
being  assisted  in  the  teaching  by  Rev.  Samuel  Young 
and  Dr.  F.  A.  Ranch.  It  was  then  removed  to  Mer- 
cersburg,  where  it  remained  till  1871. 

Thus  the  Church  gradually  met  its  difficulties  and 
overcame  them,  and  grew  in  numbers  and  influence. 
It  began  to  spread  to  the  West  during  this  period,  the 
first  minister,  Rev.  Jacob  Christman,  going  to  Ohio  in 
1803,  and  Rev.J.T.  Larose  in  1804.  In  1812  the  Synod 
ordered  thaJL  certain  ministers  should  be  sent  to  the 
West,  and  Mr.  Dechant  was  sent  in  1816.    When  the 


*NoTE.— Dubbs'  History  of  German  Reformed  Church,  page  348. 


74  THE  SYNOD 

Synod  was  divided  into  classes  in  1819,  there  were 
enough  ministers  in  Ohio  to  form  a  classis,  which 
grew  so  that  in  1824  it  organized  itself  into  a  Synod  of 
Ohio.  It  separated  itself  from  the  mother  Church  in 
Pennsylvania,  because  the  latter  treated  it  just  as  the 
fathers  in  Holland  had  treated  them.  It  refused  to 
give  the  Ohio  Synod  the  right  to  ordain,  and  wanted 
the  young  men  who  desired  to  enter  our  ministry  to 
cross  the  Alleghenies  so  as  to  get  ordination.  This  the 
Ohio  brethren  refused  to  do,  and  they  declared  them- 
selves independent.  This  Ohio  Synod  grew,  until  in 
1838  it  started  its  own  Theological  Seminary  by  the 
appointment  of  Rev.  J.  G.  Buettner  as  professor.  But 
he  resigned  the  next  year  and  went  back  to  Europe, 
and  the  Seminary  ceased  for  a  time  to  exist.  These 
home  missionary  movements  prepared  the  way  for  for- 
eign missionary  movements  which  came  later.  Other 
events  occurred  which  showed  that  the  Church  was 
moving  forward.  A  Church  paper  was  started  at  Car- 
lisle in  1828.  In  1806  the  first  Sunday  School  was  or- 
ganized in  the  Reformed  Church  of  Philadelphia.  The 
Church  also  made  progress  in  its  relations  to  other  de- 
nominations. The  cause  of  Christian  unity  began  to 
attract  attention.  When,  in  1817,  the  Lutherans  and 
Reformed  of  Prussia  and  many  other  States  in  Ger- 
many united,  there  were  some  rumors  of  such  a  union 
in  America  between  the  Reformed  and  the  Lutherans. 
No  action,  however,  was  taken  by  the  Synod  looking 
toward  it,  although  a  very  pleasant  correspondence 
took  place  between  the  two  denominations  in  refer- 
ence to  the  tercentenary  of  the  Reformation,  in  181 7. 
But,  although  our  Church  did  not  unite  wi|h  the  Luth- 
erans, it  came  into  correspondence  with  other  evangel- 
ical bodies.    In  1833  it  entered  into  fraternal  relations 


THE  SYNOD  75 

with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  later  with  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church,  with  whom  it  had  several 
very  pleasant  conventions. 

Thus  the  Church,  in  spite  of  its  great  difficulties, 
grew  so  that  by  1840  it  had  reached  a  high-water 
mark.  It  was  united  and  progressive.  Several  of  the 
oldest  ministers  have  told  us  "Those  were  the  halcyon 
days  of  the  Reformed  Church."  She  was  united  and 
progressive.  God's  Spirit  was  poured  out  on  the 
Churches.  Her  institutions  were  being  firmly  estab- 
lished. Controversy  had  not  yet  entered.  The  out- 
look was  hopeful. 

SECTION  II. 

Progress  in  Spite  of  Controversy. 

The  Church  having  equipped  herself  with  a  Board 
of  Missions  so  as  to  enlarge  her  field,  and  with  Theo- 
logical Seminaries  to  supply  the  Churches  with  minis- 
ters, was  now  ready  for  an  onward  movement.  First 
she  strengthened  her  institutions  of  learning.  In  1840 
Rev.  J.  W.  Nevin,  D.D.,  was  elected  from  the  Presby- 
terian Church  to  be  professor  of  theolog}'  at  Mercers- 
burg.  Dr.  Ranch's  death,  soon  after  (1841),  compelled 
the  Synod  to  elect  a  successor.  They  decided  to  look 
abroad  for  another  man  like  Dr.  Ranch.  Rev.  F.  W. 
Krummacher,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  largest  Reformed 
Church  in  Germany, at  Elberfeld,in  western  Germany, 
was  then  attracting  the  attention  which  afterwards  led 
him  to  be  called  as  court  preacher  to  the  King  of 
Prussia.  The  Synod  elected  him  (1843),  and  Rev.  Drs. 
Schneck  and  Hoffeditz  were  appointed  to  go  to  Ger- 
many and  present  the  call  personally  to  Dr.  Krum- 
macher. Dr.  Krummacher  found  it  necessar)'  to  de- 
cline the  call,  but  recommended  Rev.  Philip  SchafT, 


'jd  THE  SYNOD 

D.D.,  who  was  then  professor  extraordinary  at  the 
University  of  BerHn.  The  Synod  then  elected  Dr. 
SchafT,  and  he  accepted.  He  came  to  this  country,  and 
was  inaugurated  (1844)  at  Reading  as  professor  of  his- 
tory in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Mercersburg.  On 
this  occasion  he  delivered  an  address,  "The  Principle 
of  Protestantism,"  which  created  a  sensation  and  caus- 
ed some  criticism. 

The  Western  Seminary  soon  after  was  revived 
(1848)  and  located  (1850)  at  Tifhn,  Ohio,  and  Rev.  E. 
V.  Gerhart,  D.D.,  was  made  professor.  The  Pittsburg 
Synod  was  organized  in  1870,  and  the  Potomac  Synod 
in  1873.  The  Germans,  too,  began  extending  their 
operations  into  the  great  West.  Rev.  Dr.  M.  Stern, 
Rev.  Dr.  H.  A.  Miihlmeier,  and  Rev.  Dr.  H.  J-  Rue- 
tenik  began  (about  1853)  their  work  in  the  West,  which 
has  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  two  Western  Ger- 
man Synods.  In  i860  Dr.  Miihlmeier  started  the  Ger- 
man Mission  House,  among  a  colony  of  emigrants 
from  Lippe,in  Germany,  at  Franklin,  Wisconsin.  Rev. 
Dr.  Ruetenik,  after  teaching  at  Heidelberg  College, 
went  to  Cleveland  and  started  Calvin  College.  The 
Synod  of  the  Northwest  was  organized  in  1867;  the 
Eastern  (German)  Synod  in  1875;  and  the  Central 
Synod  in  1881.  The  Church  also  began  moving  in  the 
South  as  well  as  in  the  W\'st.  The  Classis  of  North 
Carolina  founded  Catawba  College  in  1851.  Although 
separated  from  the  North  by  the  Civil  War,  which 
caused  it  to  lose  a  large  part  of  its  endowment,  yet  it 
has  done  excellent  work.  Finally  the  Interior  Synod 
was  formed  (1887),  consisting  of  the  English  Classes 
west  of  Indiana.  The  name  "German"  was  dropped 
from  our  title  in  1869. 

But  while  the  Church  was  thus  spreading,  she  was 


THE  SYNOD  77 

also  uniting-.  The  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  and  the 
Synod  of  Ohio,  which  had  been  separated,  united  in 
1863.  In  that  year  the  tercentenary  of  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism  was  held  in  Philadelphia  (January  17). 
This  festival  occasion  lasted  six  days.  Papers  were 
read  on  the  Catechism  by  leading  ministers  of  our 
Church  and  of  other  Churches,  and  also  of  other  coun- 
tries. Free  will  offerings  were  made  in  the  Churches, 
which  amounted  to  $108,125  in  the  Eastern  Synod. 
The  tercentenary  edition  of  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism in  three  languages  (German,  Latin  and  English) 
called  the  triglott,  was  published.  One  result  of  this 
tercentenary  festival  was  the  bringing  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  this  land 
closer  together,  and  on  November  18,  1863,  the  Ohio 
Synod  united  with  the  Eastern  Synod  to  form  the  Gen- 
eral Synod,  by  holding  their  first  meeting  at  Pittsburg, 
Thus  the  German  Reformed  Church  became  fully  or- 
ganized by  capping  the  Synodical  Church  Govern- 
ment by  a  General  Synod.  Ineffectual  efforts  were 
made  (1874  and  1888)  to  unite  with  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church,  and  later  to  form  a  federal  union  with 
that  Church,  but,  after  negotiation  had  continued  for 
six  years  (1887-1893),  it  failed.  In  1880  she  entered 
the  "Alliance  of  the  Reformed  Churches  holding  the 
Presbyterian  System,"  and  thus  progressed  still  far- 
ther in  uniting  with  Churches  of  like  faith  and  order 
in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

But,  although  the  Church  during  the  past  half  cen- 
tury was  uniting,  yet  she  was  also  dividing.  There 
were  centrifugal  forces  at  work  as  well  as  centripetal. 
Her  progress  was  to  be  a  progress,  in  spite  of  a  con- 
troversy, which  caused  to  her  the  loss  of  many  individ- 
uals and  of  some  Churches.    For  many  years  she  was 


78  THE  SYNOD 

divided  into  two  parties,  which  threatened  to  spHt  her 
into  two.  The  subject  that  caused  the  controversy  was 
the  hturgy.  In  1847  the  Eastern  Synod  appointed  a 
committee  to  prepare  a  new  Hturgy.  Very  soon  there 
appeared  a  division  in  that  committee,  Rev.  J.  H.  A. 
Bomberger,  D.D.,  resigning  off  the  committee.  But 
the  committee  continued  its  work,  and  in  1867  a  Pro- 
visional Liturgy  was  pubHshed.  The  use  of  this 
hturgy  was  allowed  by  the  Eastern  Synod,  but  it  did 
not  come  into  general  use.  The  Ohio  Synod  also  de- 
sired to  prepare  a  liturgy,  and  the  General  Synod  in 
1863  gave  it  permission  to  do  so,  and  also  recommend- 
ed the  Eastern  Synod  to  revise  the  Provisional  Lit- 
urgy. In  1866  the  Eastern  Synod  published  the  Order 
of  Worship,  and  the  next  year  the  Ohio  Synod  pub- 
lished the  Western  Liturgy.  The  opponents  to  the 
Order  of  Worship  held  a  meeting  at  Myerstown,  Sep- 
tember 24,  1867,  to  protest  against  the  liturgy,  and 
founded  Ursinus  College,  under  the  presidency  of  Rev. 
J.  H.  A.  Bomberger,  D.D.,  which  was  recognized  as 
an  institution  of  the  Church  by  the  General  Synod  in 
1872.  The  controversy  on  the  liturgical  question  con- 
tinued until  1878,  when,  at  the  suggestion  of  Rev.  C. 
Z.  Weiser,  D.D.,  the  General  Synod  appointed  a 
peace  commission;  this  commission  aimed  to 
harmonize  the  Church,  and  was  in  1881  reap- 
pointed by  the  General  Synod  to  prepare  a  new 
liturgy,  which  it  submitted  to  the  General  Synod  of 
1884,  and,  having  been  adopted  by  the  Classes,  it  was 
formally  ratified  by  the  next  General  Synod  in  1887. 
The  Church  then  proceeded  to  arrange  for  the  publica- 
tion of  a  new  hymn  book.  In  1893  a  new  hymn  book 
was  adopted  and  is  at  present  in  general  use.  The 
Church  has  also  been  trying  to  formulate  a  new  consti- 


THE  SYNOD  79 

ttition,  but,  although  the  subject  has  been  discussed 
and  committees  appointed  since  1884,  the  new  consti- 
tution has  not  yet  been  adopted. 

Thus,  in  spite  of  controversy,  the  Church  kept  on 
increasing.  There  is  no  doubt  that  she  lost  much  by 
it  and  would  have  grown  faster  had  there  been  no  con- 
troversy. Yet  in  this  century  she  has  grown  to  fifty 
times  as  many  ministers  and  fifteen  times  as  many 
members.  And  if  the  liberty  that  has  been  granted  by 
the  peace  compact  be  continued,  the  Church  will  con- 
tinue to  grow  even  faster  in  the  century  to  come.  In 
1896  she  had  eight  Synods,  56  Classes,  1,001  minis- 
ters, 1,665  congregations,  229,800  members,  181,217 
communicants,  1,639  Sunday  Schools,  174,154  Sunday 
School  scholars,  297  students  for  the  ministry ;  she  had 
raised  $194,126  for  benevolent  purposes,  and  $1,036,- 
477  for  congregational  purposes. 

The  Church  has  also  begun  a  revival  of  historic  con- 
sciousness. In  1841  it  held  its  first  centennial,  al- 
though it  is  not  really  clear  of  what  it  was  the  centen- 
nial, as  the  Coetus  was  not  organized  until  1747,  al- 
though the  first  organization  was  really  as  early  as  1725 
when  Boehm  formed  the  first  charge  of  three  congrega- 
tions— Skippach,  Falkner  Swamp  and  White  Marsh, — 
and  thoroughly  organized  them.  But,  at  any  rate, 
they  kept  this  year  (1841)  as  a  Coetus'  centennial  and 
raised  a  considerable  sum  for  benevolence.  This, 
however,  prepared  the  way  for  the  greater  historic  ob- 
servance of  the  tercentenary  of  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism, in  1863.  Especially  within  the  last  ten  years 
has  the  number  of  centennial  and  semi-centennial  ser- 
vices increased.  The  General  Synod,  at  its  session  in 
1893,  observed  the  centennial  of  its  organization  as  a 
Synod  in    1793,  with   fitting  addresses  and   services. 


8o  THE  SYNOD 

And  this  year  (1897)  is  the  sesqui-centennial  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Coettis  of  1747.  The  Board  of  Home 
Missions  proposes  to  raise  a  Michael  Schlatter  Build- 
ing Fund  of  $100,000,  in  honor  of  the  sesqui-centen- 
nial. Ursinus  College  is  also  raising  a  sesqui-centen- 
nial endowment  fund  this  year.  This  Handbook  of 
Reformed  Church  History  is  published  and  sent  forth 
in  honor  of  this  sesqui-centennial,  in  the  hope  that  it 
may  aid  and  enlarge  the  historic  consciousness  of  the 
Church. 

SECTION  III. 

Mistori2  of  tbe  IFnOiviDual  :fi3cnevolent  ©pcratione 
of  tbe  Cburcb. 

The  Church  has  also  progressed  in  her  various 
methods  of  activity  as  well  as  in  her  general  growth. 
Just  as  the  golden  candle-stick  in  the  temple  has  seven 
branches,  so  the  Church  has  seven  arms  of  activity, 
which,  like  lights,  it  stretches  out  to  aid  in  caring  for 
its  members  and  in  saving  sinners.  We  will  mention 
them  in  the  order  of  their  origin. 

I.  Ministerial  Relief. 
It  may  seem  strange  that  this  benevolent  cause, 
which  seems  to  have  attracted  the  least  attention  of 
our  Church,  should  be  mentioned  first.  Yet  it  came 
first;  and,  unfortunately,  since  then  has  been  often  for- 
gotten. It  was  one  of  the  first  subjects  that  came  be- 
fore the  early  Coetus;  indeed  it  was  the  very  first 
benevolent  object  for  which  the  Church  began  to  col- 
lect funds.  As  early  as  1755  the  Coetus  founded  a 
Fund  for  Ministers  and  their  Widows.  It  is  said  that 
it  did  this  because  the  salaries  they  received  were  so 
small  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  save  anything 
during  life.    The  noble  example  of  the  mother  Church 


THE  SYNOD  8i 

of  Holland  led  it  to  found  this  fund,  for  that  Church 
always  cared  faithfully  for  ministers  and  their  families. 
As  a  result,  there  is  frequent  mention  on  the  Coetus' 
minutes,  of  money  given  to  poor  ministers  and  their 
widows.  This  society  was  chartered  in  1811,  and  in 
1833  its  members  transferred  its  funds  to  the  Synod. 
However,  the  subject  received  little  attention  for  many 
years;  perhaps  because  the  Church  was  engaged  in 
what  seemed  more  important  subjects.  But  in  the 
last  decade  it  has  been  assuming  an  importance  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Church,  of  which  it  is  worthy.  Its  report 
of  1896  says  that  it  aided  51  beneficiaries  and  that  it 
had  raised  $7,320  and  had  investments  amounting  to 
$38,212,  and  a  membership  of  210  life  and  10  annual 
members.  The  recent  generous  gift  to  the  society  of 
the  Daniel  Stine  Memorial  Home,  at  Myerstown,  by 
Mrs.  Linda  Kaub,  will,  it  is  hoped,  enlarge  this  im- 
portant work  and  prepare  the  Church  to  pvit  it  on  a 
permanent  foundation. 

n.     Education. 

The  subject  of  education  early  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  our  Church.  The  Coetus  rejoiced  at  the  open- 
ing of  Franklin  College  in  1787.  It  founded  its  own 
theological  institution  in  1825,  at  Carlisle,  under  Prof. 
Mayer.  In  1840  Rev.  J.  W.  Nevin,  D.D.,  was  made 
professor  (1840-51),  Rev.  P.  SchafT,  D.D.  (1844-1863), 
Rev.  B.  C.  WoM,  D.D.  (1852-1864),  Rev.  H.  Har- 
bough,  D.D.  (1864-1867),  Rev.  E.  E.  Higbee,  D.D. 
(1865-1871),  Rev.  E.  V.  Gerhart,  D.D.  (1868-),  Rev. 
T.  G.  Apple,  D.D.  (1868-),  Rev.  F.  A.  Cast,  D.D. 
(1873-),  Rev.  J.  C.  Bowman,  D.D.  (1890-),  Rev.  W.  A. 
Rupp,  D.D.  (1892-). 

The  Western  Theological  Seminary  was  begun  in 


82  THE  SYNOD 

1838,  but  re-opened  at  Tiffin  in  1850.  Rev.  E.  V.  Ger- 
hart,  D.D.,  was  professor  (1851-1855),  Rev.  Moses 
Kieffer,  D.D.  (1855-1861),  Rev.  Herman  Rust,  D.D. 
(1855-),  Rev.  J.  H.  Good,  D.D.  (1869-1887),  Rev.  A. 
S.  Zerbe,  D.D.  (1888-),  Rev.  D.  Van  Home,  D.D. 
(1888-),  Rev.  J.  I.  Swander,  D.D.  (1891-1895). 

The  German  Mission  House  was  opened  in  i860, 
for  the  education  of  ministers,  at  Frankhn,  Wis.  Rev. 
H.A.  Muhhiieier,D.D.,was  professor  (i860-),  Rev.  Dr. 
Bossard  (1860-1885),  Rev.  H.  W.  Kurtz  (1875-1889), 
Rev.  J.  Van  Haagen  (1886-),  Rev.  H.  A.  Meier 
(1890-). 

The  Theological  School  of  Ursinus  College  was 
opened  in  1869,  with  Rev.  J.  H.  A.  Bomberger,  D.D., 
as  president  (1869- 1884),  and  as  professors  Rev.  H.  A. 
Super,  D.  D.  (1869-1893),  Rev.  J.  Van  Haagen,  D.D. 
(1870-1886),  Rev.  M.  Peters  (1888-),  Rev.  Geo. 
Stibitz  (1889-1895),  Rev.  James  I.  Good,  D.D.  (1890-), 
Rev.  William  Hinke  (1895-). 

Seven  colleges  are  in  successful  operation.  Mar- 
shall College,  founded  in  1835,  changed  to  Franklin 
and  Marshall  in  1853,  Heidelberg  College,  1850; 
Catawba  College,  1851;  Ursinus  College,  1869;  Calvin 
College,  1863;  College  of  Northern  Illinois,  1882; 
Wichita  University  (the  latter  has  been  given  up). 
Palatinate  and  Mercersburg  Colleges  have  been  also 
semi-colleges  in  preparing  students  for  college  up  to 
the  higher  classes;  but  the  former,  however,  has  been 
given  up. 

The  cause  of  female  education  has  also  received  the 
attention  of  the  Church,  three  institutions  being  under 
its  patronage:  Allentown  Female  College,  Allentown. 
Pa.;  Clarmont  Female  College,  at  Hickory,  N.  C;  and 
the  Female  College  of  Frederick,  Md. 


THE  SYNOD  83 

The  beneficiary  education  or  the  education  of  stu- 
dents for  the  ministry,  did  not  receive  much  attention 
till  1841.  Since  then  the  subject  has  been  taken  up 
and  pushed  with  vigor.  Now  large  sums  are  raised  by 
the  various  Classes  for  that  object,  and  many  needy 
students  are  helped  into  the  ministry.  The  statistics, 
however,  have  never  been  tabulated,  so  that  the 
amount  of  money  raised  is  unknown;  but  the  last  re- 
port of  General  Synod  put  the  number  of  students  for 
the  ministry  at  297. 

III.     Home  Missions. 

This  was  the  next  subject  that  claimed  the  attention 
of  the  Church.  It  arose  almost  simultaneously  with 
that  of  education.  Home  missions  had  been  carried 
on  before  under  the  Coetus,  as  Weber  in  1783  was 
sent  West  to  Pittsburg,  and  Samuel  Weyberg  in 
1795  to  the  South  by  the  Synod.  But  it  never 
assumed  any  organized  form  until  1826,  when  the 
Eastern  Synod  organized  a  Board  of  Home  Missions. 
But  as  the  name  "board"  was  a  new  one  in 
the  Church  and  a  strong  prejudice  existed  in 
some  parts  of  the  Church  against  any  forced  collec- 
tions, it  was  made  a  voluntary  society  rather  than  a 
board.  It  reported  its  labors  through  the  "Reformed 
Church  Magazine,"  and  would  make  its  reports  to 
Synod,  but  its  relation  was  semi-official.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years  it  received  encouragement  from  only  a 
somewhat  limited  part  of  the  Church,  and  its  receipts 
w^ere  small.  In  1845  its  receipts  were  only  $1,500. 
But  from  1855  its  receipts  rapidly  increased,  showing 
that  the  Church  was  awaking  to  its  importance.  In 
1873  the  Eastern,  Pittsburg  and  Potomac  Synods 
united  in  forming  a  tri-synodic  board.    The  friends  of 


84  THE  SYNOD 

Ursinus  College  also  organized  the  Ursiiius  Union 
(1869)  to  prosecute  home  missions.  The  Ohio  Synod 
and  the  German  Synods  also  had  each  their  boards. 
Efforts  were  made  after  the  adoption  of  the  peace 
compact,  to  unify  these  several  boards  of  the  Synods 
in  a  General  Synod's  board.  The  Ohio  Synod  was  the 
first  to  fall  in,  followed  by  the  Ursinus  Union  and  the 
Pittsburg  Synod.  All  the  English  Synods'  boards  are 
now  in  the  General  Synod's  board.  The  German 
Synods,  however,  prefer  to  carry  on  their  work  inde- 
pendently, although  reporting  their  results  to  the  Gen- 
eral Synod.  At  the  last  General  Synod  there  were  re- 
ported by  all  the  boards,  135  missions,  with  13,762 
members.  Within  three  years  (1893-1896),  home  mis- 
sions has  received  $144,323,  or  about  $46,000  a  year. 
It  also  reported  that  it  had  $28,418  in  building  funds. 
Two  very  interesting  features  of  the  home  mission- 
ary work  have  developed  themselves.  One  is  the  Har- 
bor Mission  or  Mission  to  the  Emigrants  arriving  at 
New  York.  This  was  begun  in  1865,  and  is  now  un- 
der the  efificient  management  of  Rev.  Paul  Sommer- 
latte.  The  other  is  the  Hungarian  Mission  among  the 
thousands  of  Hungarian  emigrants  in  this  country, 
many  of  whom  are  devotedly  attached  to  the  Reform- 
ed Church.  Rev.  G,  Jurany  was  the  first  commis- 
sioned for  this  work  on  January  i,  1891,  and  located  at 
Cleveland.  This  work  has  grown  so  rapidly  that  at 
the  General  Synod  of  1896  there  were  six  Hungarian 
missions,  with  1,196  communicants.  Encouraged  by 
the  success  of  this  work,  the  board  started  a  new  mis- 
sion (1896)  among  the  Bohemians  of  Chicago,  under 
the  care  of  Rev.  Mr,  Molnar. 


THE  SYNOD  85 

IV.  Publication. 
Almost  as  soon  as  the  Synod  awoke  to  the  import- 
ance of  education  and  home  missions,  and  organized 
them,  it  also  began  to  work  on  publication  lines.  Its 
first  publication  was  "The  Magazine  of  the  Reformed 
Church,"  at  Carlisle  in  1828.  It  was  published  under 
the  care  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions.  This  was 
changed  into  the  "Messenger  of  the  German  Reform- 
ed Church."  Its  place  of  publication  was  at  first  Car- 
lisle, then  Chambersburg;  but  after  the  burning  of  the 
latter  place,  it  was  located  in  Philadelphia.  Rev.  B.  S. 
Schneck,  D.D.,  was  made  its  first  editor,  in  1840.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Rev.  S.  R.  Fisher,  D.D.  (1875-1888), 
Rev.  P.  S.  Davis,  D.D.,  Rev.  C.  G.  Fisher,  D.D.  (1888- 
1896),  Rev.  C.  J.  Musser  (1896-).  The  German  publi- 
cations, before  1837,  were  the  "Christliche  Herold," 
published  by  Rev.  Dr.  Schneck,  and  "Die  Evangel- 
ische  Zeitschrift,"  by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.  Guldin.  These 
were  then  united  into  "Die  Reformirte  Kirchenzei- 
tung,"  whose  editor  was  Rev.  Dr.  L.  Praikschatis,  just 
deceased.  The  "Reformed  Quarterly"  was  begun  as 
the  "Mercersburg  Review"  in  1849,  ^^^"^  is  now  edited 
by  Rev.  Dr.  W.  A.  Rupp.  The  "Guardian"  was  pub- 
lished from  1856  to  1896.  The  Western  Church  also 
began  its  work  by  the  publication  of  the  "Western 
Missionary,"  in  1848,  which  was  afterwards  changed 
to  the  "Christian  World,"  under  Rev.  Dr.  S.  Mease, 
Its  present  editor  is  Rev.  Dr.  M.  Loucks.  The  "Re- 
formed Church  Monthly"  was  published  by  Rev.  J.  H. 
A.  Bomberger,  D.D.  (1868-1876),  "The  Hausfreund" 
(1867-),  "The  Record,"  by  D.  Miller  (1888-),  "The 
Reformed  Church  Magazine,"  by  Rev.  J.  I.  Good 
(1893-1896).  The  Eastern,  Pittsburg  and  Potomac 
Synods  still  retain  control  of  the  Publication  House  at 


86  THE  SYNOD 

Philadelphia,  which  was  beg-un  at  Chambersburg 
(1844).  The  German  Publication  House  at  Cleveland, 
is  also  under  the  control  of  the  German  Synods. 

V.     Foreign  Missions. 

The  Church  having  begun  its  movement  for  home 
missions,  had  to  complete  it  by  establishing  foreign 
missions;  for  each  is  a  different  phase  of  the  same 
work,  and  the  one  helps  the  other.  The  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  was  organized  in  1838.  Like  most 
of  the  American  Churches  at  that  time,  it  labored  at 
first  in  union  with  other  denominations,  under  the 
American  Board,  until  in  1865  it  withdrew  from  that 
board.  During  that  time  Rev.  Dr.  B.  Schneider  was 
our  devoted  missionary  and  labored  at  Broosa  (1842-) 
and  Aintab  (1849-)  in  Asia  Minor.  From  1861  to  1878 
the  cause  of  foreign  missions  lay  dormant,  although 
some  of  the  German  congregations  supported  Rev.  O. 
Lohr  at  Bisrampore,  India,  and  some  of  the  English 
congregations  still  paid  their  money  into  the  hands  of 
the  American  Board.  In  1878  the  board  was  reorga- 
nized and  afterward  selected  Japan  as  its  mission  field, 
and  in  1879  sent  Rev.  A.  D.  Gring  to  Tokio.  For 
about  seven  years  Tokio  was  the  centre  of  our  opera- 
tions in  Japan.  Then  the  northern  part  of  Japan  was 
ofifered  to  our  Church  as  its  field,  as  it  united  with  the 
various  Reformed  and  Presbyterian  denominations  of 
that  land  to  form  the  United  Church  of  Christ  in 
Japan.  It  then  changed  its  centre  from  Tokio  to  Sen- 
dai,  a  city  of  northern  Japan,  where  a  large  Japanese 
congregation,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr.  Oshi- 
kawa,  joined  us.  It  has  located  there  a  boys'  school 
and  a  theological  training  school;  also  a  girls' 
school,  which  are  in  successful  operation.    The  growth 


THE  SYNOD  87 

of  this  mission  has  been  in  some  respects  phenomenal, 
the  board  reporting  in  1896,  1,935  members  in  six  con- 
gregations and  50  preaching  stations,  39  Sunday 
Schools  with  1,618  scholars,  154  scholars  in  the  boys' 
school,  57  in  the  girls'  school,  and  23  in  the  theological 
school. 

It  is  also  reported  that  its  receipts  from  1893  to  1896 
were  $91,275,  or  at  the  rate  of  about  $30,000  a  year. 
The  present  foreign  missionaries  in  Japan  are  Rev.  J. 
P.  Moore,  D.D.,  Rev.  W.  E.  Hoy,  Rev.  D.  B.  Schne- 
der.  Rev.  Henry  K.  Miller,  Rev.  S.  S.  Snyder,  Rev.  C. 
Noss,  and  Miss  M.  C.  Hallowell,  Miss  L.  Zurfluh,  and 
Mr.  Paul  Gerhard  as  teachers. 

The  board,  under  the  instructions  of  General  Synod, 
has  under  consideration  the  establishment  of  a  new 
mission  in  China.  There  has  also  been  a  mission  start- 
ed among  the  Indians  at  Black  River  Falls,  Wis.,  by 
the  German  Synod  of  the  Northwest,  in  1878,  of  which 
Rev.  I.  Hauser  was  the  first  missionary,  and  Rev.  J. 
Stucki  is  the  missionary  at  present. 

VI.     Sunday  Schools. 

This  potent  arm  of  the  Church  has  not  been  thor- 
oughly organized  by  the  Church  until  very  recently. 
Individual  Sunday  Schools  have  long  been  in  exist- 
ence, and  the  cause  gradually  became  very  popular, 
but  no  effort  was  made  to  organize  it  under  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  until  1887.  It  is  true,  our  early  fathers  in 
this  country  were  careful  to  have  parochial  schools  in 
each  of  their  congregations,  although  they  often  had 
great  difficulty  to  get  suitable  school-masters.  The 
Synods  of  Holland  were  very  careful  to  inquire 
whether  this  matter  was  attended  to.  These  parochial 
schools  prepared  the  way  for,  and  yet,  in  some  cases, 


88  THE  SYNOD 

hindered  the  establishment  of  Sunday  Schools.  The 
first  Sunday  School  in  our  Church  was  probably  be- 
gun in  the  Reformed  Church  at  Philadelphia,  in  1806. 
Gradually  they  were  organized  in  other  congrega- 
tions. Bvit  in  some  of  the  country  districts  a  prejudice 
sprang  up  against  them,  as  they  were  supposed  to  in 
terlere  with  the  parochial  schools,  and  were  looked 
upon  as  a  novelty  in  the  Church.  But  Sunday  Schools 
have  gradually  won  their  way,  till  in  1896  there  were 
1,639  Sunday  Schools,  with  20,350  officers  and  teach- 
ers, and  174,154  scholars.  The  General  Synod,  seeing 
the  importance  of  this  movement,  appointed  a  Sunday 
School  Board  in  1887.  This  board  arranged  for  the 
publication  of  Lesson  Helps,  by  Rev.  J.  E.  Hiester, 
D.D.,  and  Rev.  D.  W.  Ebert,  and  in  1893  appointed 
Rev.  Rufus  W.  Miller  its  secretary.  It  prepared  a  ser- 
vice for  the  general  observance  of  Children's  Day, 
from  whose  contributions,  during  the  last  two  years, 
$8,751  have  been  brought  into  its  treasury.  It  has 
issued  397,600  publications  during  that  time.  It  also 
employed  a  Sunday  School  missionary,  whose  efforts 
have  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a  number  of  Sunday 
Schools,  some  of  which  have  grown  into  congrega- 
tions. Since  its  creation  there  has  been  a  rapid 
growth  of  the  Sunday  Schools  of  the  Church. 

VII.     Orphans'  Homes. 

The  care  of  the  orphans  has  ever  been  one  of  the 
most  sacred  in  the  Church.  We  have  seen  the  early 
anxiety  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church  of  Holland  about 
the  widows  of  the  ministers  in  this  country.  They  felt 
the  same  anxiety  for  their  orphans.  However,  no  or- 
ganization to  aid  the  needy  orphans  of  the  Church 
was  begun  until  1863,  when  Rev.  E.  Boehringer  open- 


THE  SYNOD  89 

ed  his  house,  at  Bridesburg,  Philadelphia,  to  several 
homeless  orphans.  When  he  died,  soon  after,  Chris- 
tian friends  did  not  allow  the  cause  to  suffer.  "The 
Shepherd  of  the  Lambs,"  as  his  home  was  called,  was 
removed  from  Bridesburg  to  Womelsdorf,  in  1867,  and 
called  Bethany  Orphans'  Home,  where,  under  the  ex- 
cellent guidance  of  Rev.  Dr.  Bausman,  the  president  of 
the  board, it  greatly  prospered.  It  is  now  under  the  care 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Yundt  as  superintendent,  and  reports  in 
1896,  112  orphans,  and  as  having  raised  $30,401  in 
three  years.  A  similar  Home  was  started  at  Butler, 
Pa.  (1868,)  which,  under  the  care  of  Rev.  Dr.  P. 
Prugh,  reports  in  1896,  92  orphans,  and  a  revenue 
during  the  last  three  years  of  $25,784.  The  Germans 
also  established  a  Home  at  Fort  Wayne  in  1884,  which 
had  64  orphans  in  1896,  and  had  raised  $25,284  in 
three  years.  These,  together,  support  260  orphans, 
and  have  raised  at  the  rate  of  $27,000  a  year. 

There  are  also  minor  organizations  in  the  Church 
which  have  been  recommended  by  the  Church.  Wo- 
man's missionary  societies  were  endorsed  by  General 
Synod  in  1890,  and  are  quite  prosperous.  The  Bro- 
therhood of  Andrew  and  Philip  was  founded  by  Rev. 
R.  W.  Miller  in  1888.  It  is  now  quite  prosperous. 
The  Heidelberg  League  was  also  founded  by  Rev.  F. 
Bahner,  in  1892,  and  has  a  number  of  chapters.  The 
first  Christian  Endeavor  Society  in  our  Church  was 
founded  (1882)  at  Columbiana,  Ohio.  There  are  now 
(1897)  478  Christian  Endeavor  Societies,  with  almost 
18,000  members. 

Thus  these  various  agencies  of  the  Church  have 
been  helping  her  along.  They  have  not  merely  been 
aids  in  the  past,  but  they  are  pledges  for  the  future — 
prophecies  of  her  future  development.    If  our  Church 


90  THE  SYNOD 

has  revealed  such  progress  in  her  first  century,  what 
will  be  her  progress  in  the  second?  At  the  present 
rate  of  increase,  which  may  be  even  increased  during 
the  splendid  twentieth  century  upon  which  we  will 
soon  enter,  she  should  have,  a  century  hence,  about 
25,000  ministers,  16,000  congregations,  and  more  than 
2,000,000  communicants.  May  our  prayer  be  contin- 
ually for  her  prosperity.  Her  prosperity  will  depend 
on  you  her  members. 


(aucetlons  on  IRcfonneb  Cburcb  IHistori^. 


CHAPTER  I. 


SECTION  I. 

1.  Who  was  the  founder  of  Reformed  Church, — when  and 
where  born? 

2.  What  were  the  steps  of  his  conversion  to  Protestant- 
ism? 

3.  When  and  where  did  he  begin  to  preach  the  Reformed 
doctrines? 

4.  When  did  he  begin  to  preach  at  Zurich  and  how  did 
that  city  become  Reformed? 

5.  When  was  the  Reformation  completed  at  Zurich? 

6.  Why  did  we  get  the  name  "  Reformed?  " 

7.  How  did  the  Reformed  doctrines  spread  to  other  can- 
tons? 

8.  Describe  how  Luther  and  Zwingli  met  together. 

9.  Describe  the  scene  connected  with  Zwingli's  death. 

SECTION  II. 

10.  What  two  men  took  ZwingU's  place? 

11.  Describe    Bullinger's    early    life   till    he    became    Re- 
formed. 

12.  What  led  to  his  election  in  Zwingli's  place? 

13.  What  are  the   important   events   of   Bullinger's  later 
life? 

14.  What  creed  united  the  Reformed  of  German  Switzer- 
land and  the  Reformed  of  French  Switzerland? 

15.  Describe  Calvin's  early  life  until  he  left  France? 

16.  What  great  book  did  he  write? 

17.  Who   introduced  the   Reformed  doctrines   into   Neu- 
chatel,  and  how? 


n  QUESTIONS 

i8.     How  did  Farel  introduce  the  Reformed  doctrine  into 
Geneva? 

19.  Describe  Calvin's  call  to  stay  at  Geneva. 

20.  Describe  Calvin's  later  life  and  death. 

SECTION    III. 

21.  Who  succeeded  Bullinger  at  Zurich  and  describe  his 
life? 

22.  Describe  the  life  of  Breitinger. 

23.  Who  were  Hottinger  and  Heidegger? 

24.  Who  was  Lavater  and  how  did  he  oppose  rationalism? 

25.  Describe  Lavater's  opposition  to  the  French  and  his 
death. 

26.  Describe  the  life  of  Hess. 


CHAPTER  II. 


SECTION  I. 

27.  What  was  the  first  Reformed  Church  of  Germany? 

28.  Who  was  John  A.  Lasco? 

29.  How  was  the  Reformed  faith  introduced  into  the  Pa- 
latinate? 

30.  Who  were  the  authors  of  the  Heidelberg  catechism 
and  when  was  it  written? 

31.  Describe  the  life  of  Ursinus  before  he  came  to  Heidel- 
berg. 

S2.     Describe  the  life  of  Olevianus  till  he  came  to  Heidel- 
berg. 

33.  Describe  Frederick's  defence  of  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism. 

34.  Describe  Ursinus'  last  years  and  death. 

35.  Describe  Olevianus'  last  years  and  death. 

SECTION    II. 

36.  Into  what  other  lands  in  Germany  were  the  Reformed 
doctrines  introduced? 

37.  Describe  the  conversion  of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg 
to  the  Reformed  faith. 

38.  What  were  the  results  of  his  conversion? 


QUESTIONS  HI 

39.  What  terrible   war  devastated   Germany   in   the   early 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century? 

40.  What  effect  had  it  on  Elector  Frederick  V.  personally? 

41.  What  were  its  effects  on  the  Palatinate? 

42.  What  gain  came  to  the  Reformed  by  this  war? 

43.  Who  was  Electress  Louisa  Henrietta? 

SECTION   III. 

44.  Describe  the  French  war  of  1688- 1689  and  its  effects  on 
the  Reformed. 

45.  Describe  the  capture   of   Heidelberg  in    1793   and   its 
effects  on  the  Reformed? 

46.  What  persecution  did  the  Reformed  of  the  Palatinate 
suffer  in  1705? 

47.  What  persecution  did  they  suffer  there  in  1719? 

48.  How  were  they  further  persecuted  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century? 


CHAPTER  ni. 


SECTION   I. 

49.  What  were  the  causes  that  led  our  ancestors  to  come 
to  America? 

50.  Who  was  Peter  Minuit? 

51.  Who   was    probably    the    first    Reformed    minister    in 
Pennsylvania? 

52.  Who   was   the   founder   of   the    Reformed   Church    in 
Pennsylvania  and  how  did  he  found  it? 

53.  Who  was  Rev.  George  Michael  Weiss? 

54.  What   controversy   did   Rev.    Mr.    Boehm   carry   with 
the  Moravians? 

SECTION    II. 

55.  Who  was  the  organizer  of  our  Church? 

56.  By  whom  was  Rev.  Air.  Schlatter  sent  to  America,  and 
when  did  he  arrive  here? 

57.  Describe  his  journeys  till  the  first  Coetus. 

58.  What  was  a  Coetus? 

59.  When  and  where  did  the  first  Coetus  meet? 

60.  Describe  Rev.  Mr.  Schlatter's  travels  in  America,  after 
this  Coetus. 


IV  QUESTIONS 

6i.     Describe  Rev.  Mr.  Schlatter's  tour  to  Europe  and  its 
results. 

62.     Describe  the  Charity  Schools  of  Pennsylvania. 

63.  Describe   Rev.    Mr.   Schlatter's   life  after  leaving  the 
Coetus. 

64.  What  were  the  results  of  his  leaving  it  on  himself  and 
on  the  Church? 

SECTION   III. 

65.  What  political  dangers  threatened  the  early  Reformed 
in  this  country? 

66.  Who  were  some  of  the  early  Reformed  ministers  in 
this  country  after  Schlatter  and  Boehm? 

67.  Did  the  Germans  sympathize  mainly  with  the  British, 
or  the  Americans  in  the  Revolutionary  War? 

68.  What  day  did  the  Coetus  appoint  for  the  Church  dur- 
ing the  Revolution? 

69.  What  effect  did  the  Revolution  have  on  the  Reformed 
Church? 

70.  Mention  some  illustrations  about  Reformed  ministers 
who  sympathized  with  the  Americans  against  the  English. 

71.  What  prominent  generals  of  the  Revolution  were  Re- 
formed? 

72.  Mention  events  that  connect  our  Church  with  General 
Washington's  life. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


SECTION   I. 

yS-     Why  did  the  Coetus  separate  from  the  Church  of  Hol- 
land? 

74.  When  and  where  was  the  first  Synod  organized? 

75.  What    was    the    difficulty    about    languages    that    th.; 
Synod  had  to  meet,  and  what  did  it  do? 

76.  What  was  the  difficulty  about  ministers  that  the  Synod 
had  to  meet? 

77.  Describe  the  beginning  of  the  first  Theological  Semi- 
nary. 

78.  Describe    the    spread    of   our    Church    westward    and 
southward. 

79.  What  efforts  were  made  toward  Church  Union? 


QUESTIONS  V 

SECTION    II. 

80.  Describe  the  election  of  Drs.  Nevin  and  Schaff. 

81.  Describe  the  Tercentenary  celebration. 

82.  What  subject  threatened  to  divide  the  Church,  and 
what  were  its  results,  especially  in  connection  with  Ursinus 
College? 

83.  How  was  peace  brought  about  again? 

84.  What  are  the  present  statistics  of  the  Church?* 

85.  What  celebration  of  historic  events  in  our  Church  his- 
tory have  taken  place  lately? 

86.  Of  what  is  this  year  (1897)  the  sesqui-centennial  (one 
hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary)? 

SECTION   III. 

87.  Give  the  history  of  the  Ministerial  Relief  Society. 

88.  What  educational  institutions  were  founded  by  our 
Church,  especially  those  in  your  Synod? 

89.  Give  the  history  of  our  Home  Missions. 

90.  What  mission  work  is  being  done  at  New  York  har- 
bor and  among  the  Hungarians  of  this  country? 

91.  Give  the  history  of  our  Church  publications. 

92.  Who  was  our  first  Foreign  Missionary,  and  where? 

93.  Where  is  our  present  Foreign  Mission? 

94.  What  has  our  Mission  done  at  Sendai? 

95.  Name  some  of  our  missionaries  in  Japan. 

96.  What  was  the  history  of  our  Sunday  Schools  in  the 
past? 

97.  What  are  our  Sunday  School  Boards  doing  at  present? 

98.  What  is  the  history  of  our  Orphans'  Homes? 

99.  What  other  societies  have  been  founded  to  help  the 
Church,  and  what  are  they  doing  now?t 

100.  What  is  the  outlook  of  the  history  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  the  future? 


*  The  answer  to  this  should  be  changed  with  each  succeeding  year, 
t  Especially  the  societies  in  your  church. 


